IC-NRLF 


SIS 


DEPARTMENT  OF 

PVBLIC  INSTRUCTION 
OAKLAND  CALIFORNIA 


REPORT 

of  a  Survey  of  tLe 

Organization,  Scope,  and  Finances 

of  tLe 

PUBLIC  SCHOOL  SYSTEM 

of 
Oakland,  California 

By 

EL  WOOD  P.  CUBBERLEY 

Professor  of  Education,  Lclancl  Stanford  Junior  University 


BOARD  OF  EDUCATION  BULLETIN 

NUMBER  8  JUNE,  1915 


REPORT 


OF    A    SURVEY    OF    THE 


ORGANIZATION,  SCOPE,  AND  FINANCES 


OF    THE 


PUBLIC  SCHOOL  SYSTEM 


OF 


OAKLAND,  CALIFORNIA 


BY 

ELLWOOD  P.  CUBBERLEY 

Professor  of  Education,   Leland  Stanford  Junior  University 
'Price,    Ten    Cents 


PRINTED  BY  ORDER  OF 

THE  BOARD  OF  EDUCATION 
1915 


PRESIDENT'S  LETTER. 

OAKLAND,  CALIFORNIA,  June  21,  1915. 
To  THE  TAXPAYERS  OF  OAKLAND: 

Since  the  per  capita  cost  of  maintenance  based  on  the  average  daily 
attendance  of  the  Oakland  School  Department  has  increased  twenty-two 
per  cent  during  the  last  five  years, -the  Board  of  Education  recently  decided 
it  to  be  a  point  of  wisdom  to  employ  a  disinterested  expert  to  investigate  the 
reasons  for  the  increased  expense  and  to  determine  if  it  were  possible  to 
conduct  the  schools  more  economically  without  loss  of  efficiency. 

This  investigation  was  inaugurated  at  a  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Edu- 
cation held  June  1,  1915,  at  which  the  following  resolution  was  unani- 
mously passed: 

WHEREAS,  there  has  been  a  considerable  annual  increase  in  the  school 
budget  for  several  years  past,  and 

WHEREAS,  the  Board  of  Education  is  desirous  of  conducting  the  School 
Department  as  economically  as  possible  without  lessening  its  efficiency,  be  it 

Resolved,  that  Dr.  E.  P.  Cubberley,  recognized  as  one  of  the  foremost 
authorities  on  educational  administration  in  the  United  States,  who  has 
conducted  school  surveys  for  the  cities  of  Baltimore,  Portland,  Butte,  and 
Salt  Lake  City,  be  employed-  to  investigate  the  plan  of  organization  of  the 
Oakland  School  Department,  with  special  reference  to  the  number  of  em- 
ployees, their  salaries  and  duties,  in  order  to  determine  if  there  be  any 
unnecessary  expenditures  or  if  any  economy  can  be  effected  without  injur- 
ing the  efficiency  of  the  department. 

Dr.  Cubberley's  report  is  hereby  presented  to  the  public.  The  Board 
of  Education  earnestly  desires  that  it  be  given  thoughtful  consideration.  It 
represents  the  judgment  of  an  unbiased  expert  of  wide  experience,  and  as 
such  is  worthy  of  careful  study. 

In  presenting  the  report  to  the  taxpayers  of  Oakland,  the  Board  calls 
attention  to  the  fact  that  in  its  administration  of  the  schools  there  has  been 
a  consistent  attempt  to  maintain  a  progressive  and  efficient  school  system,  in 
order  to  afford  the  young  people  of  the  community  the  best  possible  oppor- 
tunity to  secure  a  good  education. 

Very  respectfully, 

A.  S.  KELLY, 
President  of  Board  of  Education. 


LETTER  OF  TRANSMITTAL. 

To  the  Board  of  Education, 
Oakland,  California. 

Ladies  and  Gentlemen : 

I  herewith  transmit  to  you  my  report  on  the  organization, 
scope,  and  costs  of  the  Oakland  school  department,  as  requested 
by  your  resolution  of  June  1,  1915,  directing  me  to  make  such 
a  survey  of  your  school  system. 

In  making  the  report  I  have  divided  it  into  three  parts,  to 
cover  each  of  the  three  main  questions  I  was  asked  to  consider. 
The  first  deals  with  the  form  of  organization  of  the  administra- 
tive departments,  and  the  overhead  expense  of  the  school  de- 
partment ;  the  second  covers  the  scope  and  further  needs  of  the 
school  system  under  your  control ;  and  the  third  considers  the 
financial  aspect  of  the  problem,  and  the  ability  of  the  city  of 
Oakland  to  maintain  a  good  system  of  schools.  I  hope  that  the 
report  as  submitted  may  prove  useful  to  the  Board  of  Educa- 
tion in  handling  its  problems,  and  to  the  people  of  the  city  as 
well,  in  enabling  them  to  understand  the  magnitude  and  the 
importance  of  the  problem  with  which  the  Board  of  Education 
has  to  deal. 

I  desire  here  to  express  my  appreciation  of  the  assistance 
rendered  me  by  the  officers  of  the  different  departments  of  the 
administrative  organization,  without  which  help  it  would  not 
have  been  possible  to  have  made  such  a  survey  of  conditions 
and  needs  in  so  short  a  time. 

Very  respectfully, 
ELLWOOD  P.  CUBBERLEY. 

Stanford  University,  Cal., 
June  12,  1915. 


CONTENTS. 

I.     Form  of  organization,  and  overhead  expense 9 

II.     Scope  and  needs  of  the  Oakland  school  system 18 

III.     The  financial  phase  of  the  Oakland  school  problem 37 

Appendix  A.  The  expenditures  of  the  Oakland  school  de- 
partment, for  the  fiscal  year  1914-15,  by  to- 
tals and  by  percentages - 48* 


-PART  I. 

FORM  OF  ORGANIZATION,  AND  OVERHEAD  EXPENSE. 
I.      The  Form  of  Organization. 

Present  Form  of  Organization.  An  examination  of  the  rules 
and  regulations  of  the  board,  of  education,  and  of  a  tabular  sheet 
prepared,  showing  the  present  organization  and  scope  of  the 
school  system,  reveals  that  the  school  department  of  the  city  of 
Oakland  is  at  present  organized  into  four  separate  departments. 
These  are  (1),  the  clerical  and  auditing  department;  (2),  the  ed- 
ucational department;  (3),  the  buildings  and  grounds  depart- 
ment; and  (4),  the  purchasing  department.  The  attendance  de- 
partment is  included  under  the  educational  department.  Each 
of  these  four  departments  is  to  a  certain  extent  independent  of 
each  of  the  others,  the  head  of  each  reporting  directly  to  the 
board  of  education,  which  then  serves  as  a  coordinating  and  di- 
recting body.  This  places  upon  the  board  of  education  and  its 
committees  numerous  duties  which,  in  many  other  cities,  boards 
of  education  do  not  have  to  handle. 

Criticism  of  the  form  of  organization.  Whatever  may  have 
been  the  reasons  for  the  original  creation  of  four  separate  ad- 
ministrative departments,  each  more  or  less  distinct  from  and 
independent  of  the  other  three,  the  best  administrative  experi- 
ence of  our  American  cities  would  indicate  rather  clearly  the 
undesirability  of  continuing  such  a  form  of  administrative  or- 
ganization. It  is  too  wasteful  of  time  and  effort  and  does  not 
properly  centralize  authority  and  responsibility.  At  present, 
due  in  part  to  the  requirements  of  the  rules  and  regulations  of 
the  board  of  education,  and  in  part  to  the  co-operative  spirit 
shown  by  the  heads  of  the  different  departments,  a  large  degree 
of  harmony  and  co-operation  in  work  seems  to  prevail.  That 
such  a  condition  will  always  continue  to  exist  may,  however,  be 
seriously  doubted. 

The  public,  as  well  as  the  board  of  education  itself,  looks  to 
the  superintendent  of  schools  as  the  responsible  head  of  the  en- 
tire school  system.  If  overhead  charges  become  too  high  ;  if  the 
school  accounts  are  not  properly  kept ;  if  reports  to  the  public 
do  not  explain  operations  clearly ;  if  the  supplies  furnished  are 


10  Oakland  School  Survey 


poor  or  inadequate,  or  are  too  lavishly  provided ;  if  the  build- 
ings are  not  of  the  right  type,  or  cost  too  much,  of  if  they  are 
not  properly  cared  for  and  made  available  when  needed ;  if  the 
expense  for  building  upkeep  is  too  high ;  if  proper  harmony 
among  the  different  administrative  officers  does  not  prevail ;  or 
if  a  dozen  other  possible  things  do  or  do  not  come  to  pass,  the 
public  rightly  holds  the  superintendent  of  schools — the  nominal 
head  of  the  school  system — to  be  the  responsible  person.  In 
many  matters  by  law  under  the  control  of  the  board  of  educa- 
tion, the  public  holds  the  superintendent  of  schools,  rather  than 
the  board  of  education,  as  the  responsible  party. 

One  head  for  the  entire  school  system.  This  should  mean 
that  the  superintendent  of  schools  should  be  the  responsible 
head  of  the  whole  school  department,  and  that  he  then  should 
be  held  to  strict  accountability  for  its  successful  operation. 
This  is  the  method  followed  in  all  successful  corporation  control. 
The  board  of  education  should  represent,  as  it  were,  a  board  of 
directors  for  a  corporation,  and  in  this  case  it  is  a  corporation 
doing  a  million  and  a  half  dollars  worth  of  business  each  year. 
As  such  they  should  have  as  one  of  their  most  important  func- 
tions to  select  the  chief  executive  officer  for  their  business,  and, 
with  his  co-operation  and  advice,  to  select  the  heads  of  depart- 
ments and  others  for  important  executive  positions.  They  should 
also,  with  the  co-operation  and  advice  of  their  chief  executive 
officer,  and  such  of  his  subordinates  as  they  may  see  fit  to  call 
into  consultation,  decide — not  individually  but  as  a  body — all 
questions  relating  to  the  general  policy,  expansion,  arid  finance 
of  the  business  under  their  control.  All  matters  of  detail 
should  be  left  to  the  officers  of  the  business  to  handle;  if  they 
cannot  carry  the  responsibility  they  should  be  replaced  by  those 
who  can. 

The  best  experience  of  cities  generally  has  been  that  both 
harmony  and  efficiency  are  promoted  when  the  superintendent 
of  schools  is  made  the  actual  as  well  as  the  nominal  head  of  the 
entire  school  department,  and  when  the  heads  of  other  executive 
departments  report  to  and  through  him.  This  should  not  mean 
any  subordination  of  individual  subdepartment  executives  to  the 
extent  that  their  proper  work  is  interfered  with,  but  instead  a 
co-ordination  of  effort,  a  unified  control  of  expenditures,  and  a 


Organization  and  Overhead  Expense  1 1 

distribution   of  work   which    probably   would   result   in   a   more 
effective  expenditure  of  the  funds  at  hand. 

The  chief  department  the  educational.  It  cannot  be  too 
clearly  understood  that  the  chief  end  for  which  the  schools  exist 
is  the  education  of  children,  and  that  all  forms  of  organization 
and  all  administrative  machinery  exist  for  the  sole  purpose  of 
getting  teacher  and  children^  together  under  the  best  possible 
educational  conditions.  To  this  end  the  clerical  business,  pur- 
chasing, building,  and  attendance  officers  all  exist  for  the  pur- 
pose of  aiding  the  educational  department  to  so  get  teachers  ancl 
children  together.  The  purchasing  and  building  departments 
also  exist  in  part  for  the  purpose  of  deflecting,  into  the  work  of 
actual  instruction,  as  large  a  percentage  of  the  funds  set  apart 
for  annual  maintenance  as  is  possible. 

With  the  one  possible  exception  of  the  clerical  department, 
which  is  largely  in  the  nature  of  a  department  of  record,  all 
other  departments  and  subdepartments  should  be  able  to  prove 
their  usefulness  by  the  savings  they  effect,  the  waste  their  pres- 
ence prevents,  or  the  increased  efficiency  of  the  instruction 
which  their  administrative  oversight  ensures.  Every  overcharge 
detected  by  the  auditor,  every  dollar  saved  in  the  purchase  of 
supplies,  every  economy  effected  in  the  erection  and  repair  of 
buildings,  is  added  money  for  increasing  the  effectiveness  of 
the  instruction  in  the  schools.  It  is  for  this  purpose  that  all 
these  departments  have  been  created,  and  the  only  excuse  for 
their  existence  and  continuance  lies  in  their  contribution  to  the 
saving  of  funds  for  purposes  of  actual  instruction. 

This  being  the  case,  the  educational  department  stands  as 
the  chief  department  of  the  school  system,  most  deeply  inter- 
ested in  and  feeling  most  responsible  for  the  success  of  the 
schools,  and,  within  reasonable  limits,  the  other  departments  or 
divisions  of  the  school  organization  should  act  under  its  super- 
vision  ancl  control.  The  superintendent  of  schools  should  be 
made  to  feel  that  he  has  supervisory  oversight  and  control  over 
the  methods  of  bookkeeping  employed,  the  expenditures  for 
equipment  and  supplies,  the  replacement  and  betterment  pro- 
jects to  be  undertaken,  and,  to  a  certain  limited  extent,  over  the 
way  and  the  times  at  which  the  office  and  working  forces  of  the 
different  departments  do  their  work,  in  so  far  as  such  con- 


12  Oakland  School  Survey 

cerns  the  educational  work  of  the  schools.  If  he  cannot  assume 
such  responsibility  and  handle  it  wisely,  he  should  be  replaced 
by  some  one  who  can. 

II.      The  Overhead  Expense. 

The  extent  and  costs  for  the  present  overhead  administrative 
organization,  together  with  the  salaries  paid  to  each  person  in 
the  overhead  organization,  may  be  seen  from  the  following 
table : 

TABLE  No.  1. 

The  Overhead  Organization  and  Its  Cost. 

I.  THE  BOARD  OF  EDUCATION. 

Six  members,  paid  $40  per  month  for  their  services,  or 

$480   each    per   year $2880 

II.  DEPARTMENTS  UNDER  BOARD  CONTROL. 

1.     The  Clerical  and  Auditing  Department. 

1   Secretary  of  the  Board $2700 

1  Auditor  and  Assistant  Secretary ....„ 2220 

1  Assistant  to  the  Secretary 1320 

1   Bookkeeper  .  1260 

1   Stenographer  at  1020 

1   Stenographer    at   000 

1   Stenographer  at    600 


Total  cost  for  clerical  department $10,020 

2.     The  Educational  Department. 

1   Superintendent  of    Schools .....$  4000 

1    Secretary  to  the  Superintendent 1620 

1  Director  of  Information,  Statistics,  and  Ed- 

ucational   Research    1500 

2  Stenographers  at  $900  each 1800 

1  Attendance  Officer   (part  time) 1000 

1   Attendance  Officer  ..  1620 


Total  cost  for  department* $11,540 

*  The  two  Assistant  Superintendents  are  not  included  here,  as  they 
devote  their  time  chiefly  to  the  supervision  of  instruction.  They  ac- 
cordingly belong  with  the  school  principals,  in  the  overhead  cost  for 
school  supervision,  and  are  so  classified. 


Organization  and  Overhead  Expense  13 

3.     The  Buildings  and  Grounds  Department. 

1  Superintendent  of  Buildings  and  Grounds $  2700 

1  Department   Mechanic   2400 

1  Department   Electrician   '. 1800 

1  Draftsman 1080 

1   Stenographer     600 


Total   cost  for   department $8,580 

4.     The  Purchasing  and  Supply  Department. 

1  Purchasing  Agent  $  2400 

1  Stenographer    900 

1  Storekeeper    , 780 


Total  cost  for  department  $4,080 

Total  overhead  charge  for  administrative  sala- 
ries   $  34,220. 

Total  estimated  additional  cost  for  supplies,  au- 
tomobile allowances,  printing,  postage, 
etc.,  1914-15  ..  5,327.43 


Total  overhead  cost  for  general  con- 
trol      $      39,547.43 

Total  estimated  cost  for  maintenance  of  school 

department,§    1914-15    , $1,425,896.19 

Percent  of  total  spent  for  administration  # 2.7 

Number  of  employees  and  salaries.  An  examination  of  the 
roster  and  salaries  paid  the  office  force  in  the  different  adminis- 
trative departments,  as  well  as  a  study  of  the  percentage  of 
costs  devoted  to  general  administration,  does  not  reveal  any  ex- 
travagance in  salaries,  or  any  place  for  important  reductions  in 
expenditures.  On  the  contrary,  the  salaries  paid  are  relatively 
low. 

The  only  department  which  possibly  seems  to  be  a  little  over- 
stocked with  help  is  the  clerical  and  auditing  department.  This, 

§  Compiled  by  the  Secretary,  and  includes  all  expenses  up  to  date,  all 
June  salaries,  all  outstanding  orders,  and  an  estimate  of  all  additional 
expenses  for  the  22  days  remaining  in  this  fiscal  year. 

#  This  includes  the  $2800  paid  board  members  by  the  city,  and  not 
actually  coming  from  school  department  funds. 


14  Oakland  School  Survey 

however,  may  not  be  the  case,  as  the  work  of  this  department  is 
of  such  a  nature  that  one  unfamiliar  with  the  principles  under- 
lying clerical  and  business  efficiency  could  hardly  pass  judgment 
on  this  matter.  Should  it  be  desired  to  look  further  into  the 
number  and  salaries  of  the  employees  of  this  department,  a  busi- 
ness expert  should  be  directed  to  examine  into  the  amount  of 
work  and  the  effectiveness  of  the  employees  concerned. 

The  purchasing  and  building  departments.  The  purchasing 
and  the  buildings-and-grounds  departments  now  have  as  small 
working  forces  as  could  be  expected  for  the  conduct  of  such  de- 
partments, and  the  salaries  paid  the  employees  in  each  are  mod- 
erate. Each  department  requires  good  judgment,  honesty,  and 
the  ability  to  transact  business  with  accuracy  and  dispatch,  and 
such  ability  cannot  be  expected  for  smaller  sums. 

The  administration  of  these  two  departments,  in  1914-15,  cost 
together  but  93-100  of  1%  of  the  cost  for  maintenance  of  the 
school  system.  The  orders  for  materials  and  supplies  issued  by 
the  purchasing  department  from  July  1,  1914:  to  June  3.  1!)15, 
total  $396,927.99,  and  the  unexpended  balances  of  the  1914-15 
budget  will  not  permit  of  orders  exceeding  this  sum  by  more 
than  a  very  small  amount.  This  means  that  this  department 
was  conducted  for  1%  of  the  orders  issued.  Similarly,  the  or- 
ders and  requisitions  issued  by  the  superintendent  of  buildings 
and  grounds  for  the  same  period,  together  with  an  estimate  of 
additional  orders  to  June  30,  total  $464,895.53.  This  means  that 
this  department  was  conducted  at  a  cost  of  2.05%  of  the  business 
transacted.  These  figures  represent  low  operation  costs. 

If  the  purchasing  agent  saved  an  average  of  one  per- 
cent on  the  articles  purchased,  he  would  save  the  en- 
tire cost  of  his  department.  The  probabilities  are  that  he  saves 
nearer  six  to  ten  percent  on  purchases,  and  hence  probably  saves 
for  the  school  department  from  $25,000  to  $40,000  a  year  over 
and  above  the  cost  of  his  department.  As  the  superintendent  of 
buildings  saves  six  percent  in  supervising-architect  commissions 
on  all  construction  work  carried  on  in  the  school  department,  he 
also  saves  from  $10,000  to  $20,000  a  year,  varying  with  the 
amount  of  new  buildings  and  repairs  to  old  buildings,  above  the 
cost  of  his  department.  These  two  departments,  by  reason  of 
closer  buying,  increased  efficiency  in  service  obtained,  and  the 


Organization  and  Overhead  Expense  15 

elimination  of  the  need  for  the  employment  of  experts,  save 
enough  each  year  for  the  school  department  to  pay  the  entire 
cost  of  all  overhead  administrative  control,  and,  in  addition, 
leave  a  balance  to  be  applied  to  the  work  of  instruction. 

The  educational  department.  The  working  force  in  the  edu- 
cational department  also  is  not  large,  and  the  salaries  are  very 
moderate.  Judged  by  the  standards  of  other  cities,  a  salary  of 
$6000  for  the  superintendent  of  schools,  $2500  for  the  director 
of  information,  statistics,  and  research,  $2000  for  the  secretary 
to  the  superintendent,  and  twice  the  force  of  stenographers  and 
clerks,  would  not  be  excessive  for  a  city  the  size  of  Oakland. 
At  least  one  more  stenographer  should  be  added  to  this  office, 
so  that  the  assistant  superintendents,  attendance  officers,  and  the 
director  of  research  may  have  stenographic  service  for  writing 
letters,  sending  communications,  and  similar  service.  There  is 
no  economy  in  trying  to  save  on  stenographers  and  typewriters. 

The  secretary  to  the  superintendent  renders  a  very  important 
service  in  meeting  the  public,  answering  questions,  sifting  out 
those  who  should  see  the  superintendent  or  his  assistants,  and 
directing  the  work  of  the  office.  It  is  using  $1620  labor  to  good 
advantage  to  save  $4000  time. 

The  statistical  clerk.  The  director  of  information,  statistics, 
and  research,  if  the  office  is  properly  developed,  should  in  time 
render  a  very  important  service  in  testing  and  standardizing  ed- 
ucational processes.  His  present  title  is  inexpressive,  and  his 
present  services  are  limited  to  statistical  and  clerical  work.  I 
would  recommend  that  his  title  be  changed  to  that  of  statistician 
and  director  of  educational  investigations,  and  that  the  investi- 
gation side  of  his  work  be  gradually  expanded.  Every  school 
system  needs  to  measure  and  test  its  work,  from  time  to  time, 
and  the  director  of  such  a  bureau  ought  to  assist  materially  the 
two  assistant  superintendents  and  the  school  principals  in  test- 
ing and  measuring  the  educational  results  obtained  in  the 
schools. 

In  a  number  of  our  cities  such  an  office  has  recently  been  es- 
tablished, though  elsewhere  more  emphasis  has  been  placed  on 
the  study  of  the  educational  work  of  the  schools  than  upon  sta- 
tistical and  clerical  service.  If  our  cities  are  to  have  any  intelli- 
gent outlook  upon  the  work  they  are  doing  for  their  children, 


16  Oakland  School  Survey 

and  are  to  be  able  to  justify  their  expenditures  by  an  exhibition 
of  results,  such  must  be  based  on  careful  statistical  studies  made 
by  those  who  have  time  for  such  work,  and  who  know  how  to 
conduct  such -"Studies.  In  the  business  world  efficiency  experts 
are  appreciated  at  their  full  value ;  in  the  educational  world  they 
are  as  yet  almost  unknown  and  undeveloped. 

The  attendance  department.  The  enforcement  of  compul- 
sory education,  which  in  Oakland  is  classed  under  the  superin- 
tendent's office,  represents  but  a  very  small  expense.  A  city  the 
size  of  Oakland,  and  of  its  peculiar  character,  ought  to  spend 
three  or  four  times  as  much  money  as  is  now  done  on  the  en- 
forcement of  the  attendance  laws,  and  ought  also  to  maintain, 
either  singly  or  in  combination  with  Berkeley  and  Alameda,  a 
parental-home  school  for  boys  and  one  for  girls,  with  large  vo- 
cational opportunities  in  each.  There  being  no  state  school 
census  only  emphasizes  the  need  for  more  accurate  information 
as  to  the  whereabouts  and  the  school  attendance  of  the  children 
of  school  age  than  can  possibly  be  obtained  from  the  services  of 
the  one  and  one-half  officers  now  employed.  A  school-census 
bureau,  one  that  will  compile  accurate  records  as  to  children  and 
check  up  attendance  at  private  and  parochial  schools  as  well  as 
at  public  schools,  with  a  proper  provision  of  special-type  schools 
for  all  irregular  cases,  is  not  more  than  a  city  such  as  Oakland 
should  provide.  There  is  no  special  economy  in  neglecting 
youthful  waywardness  to  save  a  little  money,  and  permitting  it 
later  on  to  add  to  the  criminal  and  prostitute  class.  The  State 
of  California  cannot  be  expected  to  permit  its  larger  cities  to  con- 
tinue much  longer  to  neglect,  in  large  part,  the  care  and  proper 
education  of  its  truant  and  wayward  and  incorrigible  children. 

Cost  of  the  educational  department.  The  entire  overhead 
cost  for  the  educational  department,  including  here  the  office  of 
the  superintendent  of  schools,  the  director  of  statistics  and  re- 
search, and  the  compulsory  ?'  endance  work,  represents  at  total 
cost  of  but  94-100  of  1%,  which  is  quite  small.  It  ought  to  be 
larger  rather  than  smaller.  The  compulsory  attendance  work, 
or  the  investigation  of  educational  results,  ought  to  cost  that 
much  alone. 

Oakland's  overhead  expense  compared.  To  show  that  Oak- 
land's overhead  expense  for  schools  is  not  high,  a  comparison 


Organization  and  Overhead  Expense 


17 


may  be  made  with  a  number  of  western  cities  where  salary  costs 
and  other  expenses  are  comparable.  In  making  this  comparison 
all  cities  west  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  which  in  1910  had  25,000 
or  more  inhabitants  have  been  included,  and  all  but  one  of  these 
cities  also  had  5000  or  more  school  children  in  average  daily  at- 
tendance. The  data  for  Oakland  is  for  the  year  1914-15,  and  as 
furnished  by  the  secretary  and  the  superintendent  of  schools. 
The  data  for  all  the  other  cities  is  from  the  last  published  annual 
report  of  the  U.  S.  Commissioner  of  Education,  and  is  for  the 
fiscal  year  1912-13.  This  puts  Oakland  at  a  little  disadvantage 
for  purposes  of  comparison,  as  costs  for  all  forms  of  education 
are  increasing  almost  everywhere.  This  comparison  gives  the 
following  result: 

TABLE  No.  2. 
Cost  for  Overhead  Administrative  Control  in  Western  Cities. 


City. 


Percent   of    total   maintenance    cost 
spent  for  administrative   control 


Sacramento,    Cal 

Spokane,   Wash 

Pasadena,    Cal 

Seattle,    Wash 

Oakland,  Cal 

Denver,    Colo 

San   Diego,    Cal 

Berkeley,   Cal 

Salt  Lake  City,  Utah 

San   Jose,    Cal 

Los    Angeles,    Cal 

Butte,    Mont 

Tacoma,    "Wash 

San    Francisco,    Cal 

Colorado   Springs,   Colo 

Portland,    Ore 

Average  for  16  cities 

Median  point  for  16  cities. 


1.8 
2.2 
2.4 
2.6 
2.7 
2.7 
2.7 
2.8 
3.0 
3.0 
3.6 
3.8 
3.9 
4.3 
4.6 
4.9 
3.2 
2.9 


As  will  be  seen  from  this  table,  Oakland's  overhead,  or  ad- 
ministrative expense,  is  below  both  the  average  and  the  median 
(the  point  above  which  and  below  which  fifty  percent  of  the 
cases  fall)  for  western  cities.  If  tnJ^money  paid  for  services  to 
the  members  of  the  board  of  education  were  deducted,  as  pay  for 
such  services  is  not  usually  granted  in  American  cities,  the  per- 
centage of  expense  would  be  reduced  to  2.5%.  An  expenditure 
for  administration  of  3.0%  to  3.5%  would  not  be  unreasonable  in 
a  growing  city  the  size  of  Oakland. 


18  Oakland  School  Survey 

PART  II. 
Scope  and  Needs  of  the  Oakland  School  System. 

The  old-type  school  system.  Up  to  fifteen  or  twenty  years 
ago  communities  generally  were  content  to  maintain  a  school 
system  primarily  for  the  instruction  of  children  in  the  old  book 
subjects.  For  this  an  eight-year  elementary-school  course, 
based  entirely  on  text-book  instruction  and  the  same  for  all,  was 
considered  sufficient.  For  those  who  cared  to  go  to  the  high 
school,  two  or  three  parallel  and  somewhat  similar  courses, 
"based  largely  on  text-book  work,  were  offered.  The  instruction, 
while  perhaps  good  of  its  kind,  was  nevertheless  a  relatively 
cheap  form  of  instruction  to  provide.  A  room,  a  stove,  some 
desks,  and  an  inexpensive  teacher  answered  almost  all  instruc- 
tional needs.  The  instruction  was  book-instruction,  and  the 
pupil,  in  addition,  furnished  the  book. 

The  instruction  practically  assumed  that  all  children  were 
about  alike,  and  had  about  the  same  educational  needs.  In  a 
sense  it  was  an  aristocratic  conception  of  education,  as  opposed 
to  the  more  democratic  conception  of  today.  The  instruction 
provided  was  determined  largely  by  the  needs  of  the  more  intel- 
lectual classes  of  the  community, — that  is,  that  class  who  found 
it  easy  to  work  with  ideas  and  abstractions,  and  who  took  some- 
what easily  to  literary  knowledge.  There  was  little  attention 
given  to  anything  else.  Possible  future  vocations,  home  needs, 
hand  and  eye  training,  health  and  physique,  and  the  world  of 
natural  phenomena  were  largely  or  entirely  neglected  by  the 
school.  Those  who  could  master  the  instruction  offered  were 
promoted,  while  those  who  could  not  failed  and  soon  dropped 
from  school.  Few  special  teachers  and  little  supervision  were 
required,  and  the  school  buildings  erected  were  simple  in  con- 
struction and  relatively  cheap. 

Changes  in  conception.  Within  the  past  two  decades  a  vast 
change  in  our  conception  as  to  the  place  and  purpose  of  public 
education  in  our  national  life  has  taken  place,  in  all  parts  of  the 
United  States.  No  city  or  no  part  of  the  nation  has  any  monop- 
oly of  this  new  development  in  public  education,  though  certain 
cities  have  naturally  made  greater  progress  in  the  matter  than 
have  others. 


Scope  and  Needs  of  Schools  19 

This  change  in  conception  as  it  relates  to  public  education  is 
only  one  of  the  many  manifestations  of  that  great  social  change 
which  has  come  over  our  people,  and  which  has  everywhere  em- 
phasized the  importance  of  child-life  and  human-welfare  work 
in  contrast  with  the  accumulation  or  saving  of  money.  In  edu- 
cation it  is  no  longer  a  question  of  merely  a  school,  but  of 
schools  properly  suited  to  the  needs  of  each  type  of  child  in  the 
whole  community.  The  finger-minded  as  well  as  those  who  can 
work  with  ideas  are  to  be  trained ;  hand  and  eye  and  sense  train- 
ing are  not  to  be  neglected  longer ;  and  health  and  physical  de- 
velopment have  been  given  an  entirely  new  emphasis  in  our  edu- 
cational work.  Even  play  has  been  discovered  to  be  education- 
al, and  valuable  in  developing  character,  and  has  been  made  a 
directed  subject.  In  the  realm  of  high-school  education,  the 
need  of  many  new  courses,  and  even  of  new  schools,  to  prepare 
young  people  to  meet  the  problems  of  democracy  and  the  chang- 
ing economic  life  of  the  times  better,  has  been  felt  and  met. 
Even  the  irregular,  the  defective,  and  the  wayward  are  to  be 
cared  for.  This  calls  for  new  types  of  teachers,  differentiations 
in  instruction,  reorganizations  and  expansions  in  school  work, 
new  and  better  arranged  school  buildings,  and  a  marked  in- 
crease in  the  expense  for  public  education. 

Differentiations  and  increasing  costs.  The  result  has  been  a 
marked  differentiation  in  school  work,  within  recent  years,  better 
to  adapt  the  schools  to  the  individual  needs  of  the  children ;  the 
introduction  of  new  types  of  instruction  ;  the  establishment  of 
new  types  of  schools;  a  demand  for  better  teachers  and  more 
skilful  supervision ;  and  a  popular  demand  for  larger  play- 
grounds and  a  type  of  school  building  better  adapted  to  modern 
educational  and  community  needs. 

The  people  generally  have  welcomed  these  additions  and  ex- 
pansions and  changes  in  conception,  though  the  tax-payers  have 
sometimes  grumbled  at  the  increased  expense.  We  are,  how- 
ever, a  relatively  rich  people,  and  we  have  felt  that  we  can  afford 
to  spend  a-  relatively  large  part  of  our  annual  taxes  for  the  im- 
provement of  the  stock  and  the  better  education  of  the  genera- 
tion \vhich  is  to  take  up  society's  burden  when  we  lay  it  down. 

Oakland's  recent  educational  development.  In  many  of  our 
American  cities  this  new  development  and  expansion  of  the  edu- 


20  Oakland  School  Survey 

cational  system  of  the  city  began  fifteen  to  twenty-five  years 
ago,  and  the  costs  have  mounted  slowly  and  gradually  with  the 
increasing  wealth  of  the  city,  and  hence  have  aroused  little  or  no 
criticism.  For  many  years  Oakland  has  been  building  an  ex- 
cellent type  of  school  building,  and  has  been  in  advance  of  most 
cities  in  paying  a  living  wage  to  teachers,  but  until  quite  recently 
the  chief  development  has  been  on  the  building  and  salary  side 
of  the  school  system. 

Within  the  past  half  dozen  years  Oakland  has  begun  a  some- 
what delayed  expansion  of  its  educational  work  better  to  adapt 
its  schools  to  the  needs  of  its  children,  and  this,  connected  with 
the  many  expenses  incurred  in  the  equipment  of  the  numerous 
new  buildings  required  by  a  rapidly-growing  city,  has  caused  an 
increase  in  tax  rates  for  schools  which  has  attracted  attention. 
As  will  be  shown  further  on,  however,  Oakland  is  still  behind 
our  better  school  systems  in  its  educational  development,  and  its 
percentage  and  per  capita  costs  for  education  are  not  as  yet 
really  high. 

The  problem  before  the  board  of  education  and  the  people 
of  Oakland  is  a  double  one,  being  both  educational  and  financial. 
In  this  part  or  chapter  the  educational  aspect  of  the  problem 
will  be  considered ;  in  the  following  part  or  chapter  the  financial 
aspect  of  the  problem  will  be  presented. 

Causes  for  the  recent  increase  in  costs.  As  was  just  stated, 
Oakland  has  only  recently  begun  the  educational  expansion  of 
its  school  system,  and  the  result  has  naturally  been  an  increase 
in  costs.  What  many  other  cities  have  been  fifteen  or  twenty 
years  in  doing,  gradually  increasing  their  costs  for  instruction, 
Oakland  has  done  largely  in  the  past  five  or  six  years,  with  a 
resultant  jump  in  school  expenditures. 

The  increased  salaries  for  teachers;  the  large  increase  in  the 
number  of  teachers  employed;  the  recent  rapid  introduction  of 
kindergarten  instruction ;  the  additions  to  the  supervisory 
force;  the  organization  of  new  high  schools,  and  new  depart- 
ments in  these  schools ;  the  reorganization  of  a  number  of  the 
elementary  schools,  for  instruction  along  department  lines ;  the 
addition  of  new  subjects  of  instruction  in  the  elementary  schools, 
and  of  new  departments  in  the  high  schools,  such  as  domestic 
science  and  home  economics;  an  excellent  reorganization  and 


Scope  and  Needs  of  Schools  21 

expansion  of  the  work  in  music ;  the  organization  of  a  depart- 
ment for  health-development  and  sanitation ;  the  better  organi- 
zation of  the  work  in  physical  training,  and  the  provision  of  di- 
rected school  playgrounds ;  the  organization  of  a  department  of 
child  study,  the  classes  for  the  instruction  of  atypical  children; 
the  organization  of  a  vocational  school ;  the  extension  of  the 
courses  in  the  evening  high  schools ;  and  the  beginnings  of  an 
evening  lecture  systeny — these  represent  the  chief  causes  of  the 
recent  rise  in  the  expenditures  for  education  in  Oakland. 

The  increase  in  cost  due  to  these  newer  additions  can  at 
any  time  be  largely  eleminated,  if  the  people  so  desire,  by  aban- 
doning any  or  all  of  them  and  going  back  to  the  school  system 
of  ten  or  fifteen  years  ago.  This,  though,  no  intelligent  and  pro- 
gressive city  is  willing  to  do,  and  such  action  Oakland  does  not 
need  to  take. 

An  examination  of  these  additions,  item  by  item,  will  reveal 
their  purpose  and  the  desirability  or  undesirability  of  the  ex- 
pense involved. 

1.  Increased  salaries  for  teachers.  As  from  sixty  to  seventy 
percent  of  the  annual  cost  for  maintenance  of  a  school  system 
usually  goes  for  teachers'  salaries,  any  increase  in  this  item  natu- 
rally causes  the  total  to  amount  up  rapidly.  The  tax-payer  sees 
the  total  sum  as  printed  in  the-  newspapers,  notes  any  increase 
in  the  tax  rate,  forgets  that  for  decades  our  teachers  have  been 
the  most  poorly  paid  of  all  city  employees  representing  any 
large  degree  of  education  and  professional  skill,  and  begins  to 
object  to  the  large  amount  so  expended.  The  total  expended 
for  teachers'  salaries  in  Oakland  during  1914-15,  $925,707.70, 
does  look  large,  but  this  is  because  so  many  teachers  are  re- 
quired to  teach  the  32,697  children  who  were  enrolled  in  the 
schools. 

The  salaries  paid  teachers  in  Oakland,  however,  are  not  high, 
and  are  not  more  than  men  and  women  of  similar  education  and 
professional  skill  should  be  paid.  Averaged  up  for  all  teachers 
employed,  the  above  total  sum  equals  $1,176.25  for  each  teacher. 
The  salaries  paid  to  teachers  in  Oakland  easily  stand  comparison 
with  the  salaries  paid  in  other  city  departments,  as  is  shown  by 
the  following  table. 


22 


Oakland  School  Survey 


TABLE  No.  3. 
Comparing  Salaries  in  Different  City  Departments. 


Position. 

Salary 

Years    of 
service  to 
reach 
maximum. 

Minimum 

Maximum 

I. 

TEACHERS. 
Kindergarten    teachers    

$   780.00 
780.00 
1200.00 

1020.00 
1320.00 
1800.00 
1740.00 

1200.00 
1200.00 
1500.00 

$1200.00 
1200.00 
1260.00 

1260.00 
1680.00 
2100.00 
1740.00 

1200.00 
1200.00 
1500.00 

10 
10 

3 

7 

Elementary  school  teachers  

Intermediate   school  teachers 

High  school  teachers 
Assistants 

Instructors        

Heads    of    departments       

Sub-heads  of  departments  

Special  teachers 
Domestic    science 

Manual  training 

Skilled    mechanics    

II 

.  OTHER  CITY  EMPLOYEES. 
School   janitors 

$  900.00 
780.00 
840.00 
1200.00 
1200.00 
780.00 
1200.00 

$1200.00 
1200.00 
840.00 
1380.00 
1380.00 
1080.00 
1500.00 

3 
3 

4 
4 

City    Hall    janitors 

City  Hall   elevator   operators 

Policemen 

Firemen 

Junior  stenographers               

Senior    clerks    . 

The  salaries  paid  teachers  in  Oakland  are  not  higher  than 
are  paid  in  adjacent  cities  with  which  Oakland  has  to  compete, 
or  higher  than  in  most  other  large  western  cities. 

It  would  of  course  be  possible  to  find  "home  girls"  who 
would  be  willing  to  take  places  in  the  schools  and  work  for 
smaller  "wages,"  but  Oakland  has  for  a  long  time  followed  the 
much  wiser  policy  of  paying  about  what  the  best  schools  in  the 
vicinity  pay,  and  then  trying  to  attract  to  its  service  the  best 
trained  men  and  women  of  the  state  who  are  willing  to  apply. 
With  the  constantly  increasing  complexity  of  the  educational 
process,  the  constantly  increasing  demand  for  better  trained 
teachers,  and  the  constantly  increasing  costs  for  living,  this  is 
no  time  to  depart  from  such  a  well-established  policy. 

That  the  salaries  offered  are  not  too  high,  in  view  of  the 
quality  of  teachers  obtained  and  the  increased  cost  of  living  in 
a  city  of  Oakland's  size,  may  be  seen  from  the  statement  that  in 
the  elections  to  the  preferred  lists  for  1915-16,  26  high-school 
teachers  elected  averaged  a  monthly  increase  over  previous  po- 
sitions of  but  $9.00,  while  some  came  for  no  increase  at  all ;  28 
departmental  teachers  for  seventh  and  eight  grades  averaged  a 


Scope  and  Needs  of  Schools 


23 


monthly  increase  of  but  $3.30,  and  some  came  with  no  increase; 
and  83  elementary-school  teachers  averaged  a  monthly  increase 
of  $21.90.  The  surprising  thing  is  that  Oakland  could  secure 
good  teachers  at  so  small  an  increase  in  salary. 

2.  Increased  number  of  teachers.  That  the  number  of 
teachers  employed  has  increased  is  but  natural.  Until  Oakland 
ceases  to  grow,  either  in  population  or  in  its  conception  of  edu- 
cation, this  will  always  be  the  case.  That  the  increase  in  num- 
ber of  teachers  has  not  been,  out  of  proportion  to  the  growth  of 
the  city  may  be  seen  from  the  following  table. 

TABLE  No.  4. 

Number  of  Pupils  per  Class  Teacher,  by  Departments. 
Based    on   Average    Daily   Attendance. 


Type   of    school. 


1910-111  1911-12|1912-13|  1913-141  1914-15 


Elementary    school 

38.6 

39.4 

38.2 

39.0 

36.6 

High    school 

20.7 

25.4 

23,0 

22.6 

21.1 

Evening"  school 

16.3 

17.4 

16.5 

21.8 

19.2 

Kindergartens   

27.6 

30.6 

29.0 

30.0 

35.2 

Average    for   all    schools |     34.2  |     36.1  |     34.7  |     35.1 

In  1883-84  the  average  for  all  schools  was  32.6;  in  1893-94  it 
was  38.6  ;  and  in  1903-04  it  was  36.8. 

While  our  better  school  systems  have  been  gradually  reduc- 
ing the  number  of  children  per  teacher,  cutting  the  maximum 
number  in  an  elementary-school  class  down  from  50  or  55 
thirty  years  ago  to  30  to  35  today,  Oakland,  over  a  period  of 
thirty  years,  has  scarcely  held  even.  The  apparent  large  re- 
duction during  1914-15  was  due  in  part  to  the  employment  of 
many  new  teachers  incident  to  the  opening  of  the  new  Tech- 
nical High  School,  and  will  be  offset  by  the  much  smaller  num- 
.ber  of  new  teachers  employed  for  1915-16,  and  the  certain  in- 
crease in  the  number  of  children  next  year. 

If  we  consider  35  pupils  in  average  daily  attendance  in  elem- 
entary schools  as  a  maximum  beyond  which  it  is  not  desirable 
to  go,  as  is  now  done  in  our  better  school  systems,  then  a  num- 
ber of  the  elementary  schools  of  Oakland  are  still  inadequately 
supplied  with  teachers,  as  may  be  seen  from  the  following 
table. 


24 


Oakland  School  Survey 


TABLE  No.  5. 

Average  Daily  Attendance  per  Teacher  at  Elementary  Schools 
for  the  Year  1914-15. 


School. 

Average 
Number 
of  teachers 

Teacher 
average 

School. 

Average 
Number 
of  teachers 

Teacher 
average 

Allendale 

9. 

37.7 

Jefferson 

13 

38.1 

Bay 

16.5 

37.5 

Lafayette 

26.3 

39.6 

Beulah 

1. 

17. 

Lakeview  

14.5 

35.8 

Campbell 

6. 

32.7 

Laurel  

4.5 

30.7 

Clare  mont 

16  3 

39  5 

Lazear 

8  5 

37  5 

Clawson 

14  5 

36.3 

Lincoln 

23 

36  6 

Cleveland 

4 

35 

Lockwood 

13 

28  5 

Cole             

18. 

36.7 

Longfellow  

17. 

37.8 

Dewey       

9. 

39.3 

Manzanita   

8. 

40.3 

Durant 

20 

38.2 

McChesney 

10.5 

38.2 

Elrnhurst 

16. 

39. 

Melrose    

9.9 

33.8 

Emerson 

19.5 

37.5 

Melrose  Hts  

9.5 

40.8 

Franklin 

19 

38  7 

Peralta 

4 

26  7 

Frick 

3  5 

31  4 

Piedmont 

13  8 

33  2 

Fruitvale 

11 

32'  4 

Prescott 

21  5 

36  8 

Garfield 

19  5 

38  1 

Santa    Fe 

8.5 

34.4 

Grant 

23  4 

36.7 

Sequoia 

6. 

33.5 

Harrison    

3.5 

32.3 

Tompkins    

10. 

31.8 

Hawthorne    

12. 

37.9 

Washington    

18.5 

39.9 

Highland 

10.5 

36.8 

University  

5. 

28.2 

Intermediate 

15. 

33.9 

Vocational 

6.5 

14. 

Comparing  Oakland  with  the  same  fifteen  other  cities  used 
in  Table  No.  2,  we  get  the  following  table : 

TABLE  No.  6. 
Number  of  Pupils  in  Average  Daily  Attendance  per  Teacher  in  All  Schools 


City. 

Teacher 
average 

City. 

Teacher 

average 

Pasadena,    Cal  

20. 

Colorado  Springs,   Colo.... 

29. 

Berkeley    Cal 

21 

Salt   Lake   City,   Utah 

29. 

Los  Angeles    Cal 

25. 

Portland,    Ore       

29. 

Sacramento    Cal 

25. 

San    Jose,    Cal  

31. 

Denver    Colo 

26 

Spokane    Wash 

32 

Seattle,  Wash               

26. 

Oakland,    Cal  

32.8 

Butte    Mont 

27 

Tacoma     W^ash 

33. 

San   Diego,   Cal  

27. 

San    Francisco,    Cal  

34. 

Average  for  the  group- 

28. 

Median  for  the  group..  .. 

28. 

3.  Kindergartens.  These  have  now  been  established  in  29 
of  the  42  elementary  schools  maintained  in  Oakland,  and  the 
average  daily  attendance  in  them  in  the  five  months  since  Janu- 
ary 4,  1915,  when  17  new  kindergartens  were  opened  was  982 
children.  This  is  an  average  of  33.8  children  per  school.  In  8 
schools  the  average  daily  attendance  exceeded  40,  and  in  one, 


Scope  and  Needs  of  Schools  25 

reached  53.  The  average  daily  attendance  in  the  first  grade  for 
the  same  period  was  approximately  4100.  This  makes  the 
average  daily  attendance  in  the  kindergartens  approximately 
24%  of  that  in  the  first  grade.  In  a  city  such  as  Oakland, 
judged  by  the  standards  in  cities  having  made  good  provisions 
for  kindergarten  instruction,  it  ought  to  be  between  40%  and 
50%.  This  would  indicate  the  need  of  more  kindergartens,  and 
probably  one  should  be  established  in  connection  with  each 
school  of  four  or  more  rooms  in  the  city.  It  is  probable  that 
there  are  2000  children  in  Oakland,  between  the  ages  of  five  and 
six,  who  would  attend  school  for  kindergarten  instruction  if  full 
opportunity  for  such  attendance  were  provided.  Many  cities 
provide  for  the  admission  of  kindergarten  children  at  four  and 
one-half,  and  a  few  as  early  as  four. 

The  value  of  good  kindergarten  instruction  for  children  has 
become  so  well  established  that  it  is  not  deemed  necessary  to 
present  any  arguments  in  favor  of  this  form  of  instruction.  In 
cost  it  should  average  about  1%  times  that  for  elementary-school 
instruction. 

4.  Additions  to  the  supervisory  force.  The  supervisory 
force  for  1914-15  consisted  of  the  following  persons,  and  at  the 
salaries  stated : 

2  Assistant   Superintendents,   at $3,600.00       $     7,200.00 

1  Supervisor  of  primary  work 1,800.00  1,800.00 

1  Director  of  vocal  and  instrumental  music 3,000.00  3,000.00 

1  Director  of  bands  and   orchestras 1,500.00  1,500.00 

3  Directors  of  vocal   music,  at 1,500.00  4,500.00 

1  Director  of  drawing   (part  time) 1,200.00  1,200.00 

1  Supervisor    of    drawing 1,800.00  1,800.00 

1  Supervisor  of  drawing 1,500.00  1,500.00 

1  Supervisor   of  manual   training 2,400.00  2,400.00 

1  Director    of   home    economics 2,000.00  2,000.00 

1  Director  of  the  child-study  laboratory 1,800.00  1,800.00 

4  Language  Supervisors   (part  time),  at....                       240.00  960.00 

Total   for   special    supervision $  29,960.00 

3  High  school  principals,  at $3,300.00  9,9000.00 

1  Principal  of  vocational  school 2,000.00  2,000.00 

1  Principal  of  evening  school 1,400.00  1,400.00 

15  Elementary  school  principals,  at 2,400.00  36,000.00 

3  Elementary  school  principals,  at 2,100.00  6,300.00 

11  Elementary  school  principals,  at 2,000.00  22,000.00 

3  Elementary  school  principals,  at 1,800.00  5,400.00 

Total  for  all  supervision $112.960.00 

Percent  of  total  maintenance  cost  spent  for  supervision 7.9 


26 


Oakland  School  Survey 


That  Oakland  again  is  not  high  in  the  amount  spent  for 
supervision  may  be  seen  by  comparison  with  the  same  fifteen 
other  cities  used  in  Table  No.  2,  which  gives  the  following  re- 
sult: 

TABLE  No.  7. 
Percentage  of  Total  Maintenance  Costs  Spent  for  Supervision. 


Percent 


City. 


Seattle     Wash 

3  4 

San    Francisco     Cal 

9  7 

Pasadena     Cal 

4.9 

Salt   Lake   City    Utah 

9  9 

Butte     Mont 

5.0 

Colorado   Springs,   Colo 

10  2 

Spokane    \Vash 

7.6 

San   Diego,   Cal 

10.2 

Oakland,    Cal 

7.9     » 

Portland,    Ore     . 

10  4 

Denver,    Colo  .     .           

9.2 

Sacramento,    Cal  

11.1 

Tacoma,    Wash     

9.3 

Los  Angeles,   Cal  

11.1 

Berkeley,   Cal  

9.3 

San    Jose,    Cal  

15.3 

Average  for  the  group.. 

9.0 

Median  for  the  group.-.- 

9.3 

Percent 


That  Oakland  also  is  not  overstocked  with  supervisory  offi- 
cers, compared  with  other  cities  of  its  class,  may  also  be  seen 
from  the  following  table,  giving  the  number  of  supervisory  offi- 
cers per  teacher  in  the  different  cities  compared  in  Table  No.  2. 

TABLE  No.  8. 

Number  of  Pupils  in  Average  Daily  Attendance  for  Each 
Supervisory  Officer. 


City. 

Pupils  per 
supervisory 
officer 

City. 

Pupils   per 
supervisory 
officer 

Colorado    Springs     Colo 

208 

Spokane     W^ash 

369 

Sacramento,  Cal  

252 

San   Francisco,   Cal  

397 

Pasadena    Cal 

262 

Seattle,   Wash     

400 

San  Diego,  Cal  

283 

Salt  Lake  City,  Utah  

403 

Butte    Mont 

296 

Denver,     Colo  

423 

Tacoma    \Vash 

331 

Berkeley     Cal 

433 

Los   Angeles,    Cal 

333 

Oakland,  Cal  

445 

San   Jose,   Cal  

365 

Portland,   Ore  

513 

Average  for  the   group 

357 

Median  for  the  group- 

367 

Tables  7  and  8  combined  show  clearly  that  Oakland  is  se- 
curing its  supervision  in  large  units  and  at  a  very  economical 
rate. 

The  question  as  to  the  efficiency  of  this  special  supervision 
is  one  which  cannot  be  answered  without  a  careful  educational 
survey  of  the  schools.  Oakland  would  be  a  marked  exception  to 
the  general  rule,  though,  if  all  of  it  were  highly  efficient.  Gen- 
erally speaking,  the  principalships  of  our  American  city  school 


Scope  and  Needs  of  Schools  27 

systems  contain  more  dead  wood  than  any  other  part  of  the 
school  systems,  and  it  would  be  surprising  if  Oakland  did  not 
have  some  such  dead  wood  in  such  positions.  Principals  and 
supervisors  not  infrequently  become  mere  inspectors  and  record 
keepers,  rather  than  helpful  supervisors,  and  it  should  be  one  of 
the  particular  services  of  the  two  assistant  superintendents  to 
see  that  the  principals,  in  particular,  are  kept  alive,  and  that 
they  render  helpful  service  to  their  teachers  and  to  the  com 
munities  they  serve.  By  showing  them  how  'to  hold  helpful 
teachers'  meetings,  how  to  Measure  and  test  results  in  their 
schools,  and  how  to  assist  and  direct  their  teachers,  the  two  as- 
sistant superintendents  can  render  a  very  significant  service  to 
the  school  department. 

Assuming  that  the  supervision  is  good,  however,  Oakland  has 
not  too  much,  nor  is  it  too  expensive.  Nothing  pays  so  well  as 
plenty  of  good  leadership  at  the  top.  Money  spent  for  mere  in- 
spection is  to  a  large  degree  money  wasted,  but  money  spent 
for  helpful  leadership  is  money  which  gives  large  educational 
returns. 

The  supervision  now  provided  might  even  be  extended,  with 
advantage  to  the  schools.  The  plan  of  part-time  supervision  of 
language  instruction  in  the  departmental  grammar  schools 
might  be  extended  to  the  work  in  history,  geography,  and  Eng- 
lish. Unless  the  teachers  of  Oakland  are  better  trained  in  sci- 
ence than  is  true  of  most  city  school  systems,  a  good  supervisor 
of  nature  study  and  science  instruction  could  be  added  with  ad- 
vantage. A  supervisor  of  school  gardening  would  also  be  very 
useful  in  such  a  city.  A  vocational  guidance  director  for  the 
school  system,  with  a  teacher  in  each  high  school  giving  some 
time  to  the  subject,  might  also  be  an  important  addition  to  the 
supervisory  corps.* 

5.  New  high  schools  and  new  departments.  The  increase 
in  enrollment  in  the  high  schools  in  the  past  five  years  from 
2480  to  4045,  and  in  average  daily  attendance  from  2170  to  3089 
in  the  same  period,  is  evidence  that  the  additional  high-school 
instruction  provided  was  needed.  The  surprising  thing  is  that 

*  In  the  Technical  High  School,  two  teachers  now  devote  part  of  their 
time   to   courses   in   "Survey   of  Vocations"   and   to   advising   students   in 
regard  to   courses   of  study   suitable  to   prepare  them   for  the   vocations 
,  they  desire  to   enter. 


28  Oakland  School  Survey 

the  number  has  not  been  greater.  In  1910-11  the  average  daily 
attendance  in  the  high  schools  represented  12.7%  of  the  total  in 
all  schools,  and  in  1914-15  it  had  increased  to  but  13.3%.  In 
most  cities  the  increase  has  been  more  marked  than  this. 

The  reorganization  of  the  instruction  in  the  two  upper  ele- 
mentary-school grades  along  departmental  lines  ought  to  add 
still  more  to  the  number  who  desire  to  go  further  with  their 
studies.  The  opening  of  the  new  Technical  High  School,  with 
its  varied  courses  of  instruction  along  practical  lines,  may  also 
be  expected  to  add  to  the  number  and  to  the  percentage  of  those 
who  desire  a  high  school  education.  If  the  growth  of  the  city 
continues  at  its  present  rate,  however,  and  no  increase  in  the 
percentage  enrolled  in  the  high  schools  takes  place,  there  will 
be  over  4800  high  school  students  by  1920,  and  if  the  city  is  to 
meet  the  needs  of  its  children  a  new  high  school  will  probably 
need  to  be  provided  for  within  a  relatively  short  time. 

It  is  good  for  the  institutions  of  democracy  that  a  larger 
and  larger  percentage  of  pupils  should  be  attracted  to  the  sec- 
ondary schools,  and  that  courses  which  will  interest  a  large 
variety  of  types  of  young  people  should  be  offered  there.  The 
introduction  of  commercial  courses,  home-economics  courses, 
and  technical  courses  to  supplement  the  literary  and  general- 
science  course,  is  to  be  commended.  All  such  new  work,  how- 
ever, adds  materially  to  the  costs  for  instruction,  and  this  the 
city  must  be  prepared  to  meet.  Secondary-school  instruction 
costs  more  than  elementary-school  instruction,  and  laboratory 
and  technical  instruction  costs  more  than  literary  and  book  in- 
struction. For  many  pupils,  though,  it  is  instruction  of  very 
large  value,  and  well  repays  its  larger  cost. 

6.  Seventh  and  eighth  grade  reorganization.  The  process 
of  reorganizing  the  two  upper  grades  along  departmental  lines, 
thereby  offering  a  better  quality  of  instruction,  and  instruction 
along  new  lines,  represents  a  very  commendable  beginning  of 
the  junior  high-school  idea.  The  weakest  point  in  grade  in- 
struction has  for  long  been  in  these  two  upper  grades,  due  in 
part  to  the  inability  of  teachers  to  be  proficient  in  the  advanced 
work  of  so  many  studies,  and  in  part  to  the  fact  that  the  child- 
ren themselves  are  changing,,  and  the  grade  plan  of  instruction 
is  no  longer  so  well  adapted  to  their  educational  needs.  The 


Scope  and  Needs  of  Schools  29 

slight  increase  in  the  salary  schedule  for  the  teachers  in  these 
schools  is  moderate,  and  thoroughly  justifiable,  and  the  fact  that 
the  two  upper  grades  can  be  reorganized  after  a  departmental 
plan  at  an  increased  expense  of  from  8%  to  10%  speaks  well  for 
the  plan  from  a  financial  point  of  view. 

This  expense,  however,  is  too  low,  and  ultimately  more 
money  should  be  spent  on  these  schools.  Before  long,  as  the 
elementary-school  buildings  become  more  and  more  crowded 
and  the  high-school  attendance  increases,  the  best  arrangement 
from  an  educational  point  of  view,  as  well  as  the  most  economi- 
cal plan  from  a  school  building  point  of  view,  would  be  to  build 
five  or  six  or  possibly  more  new  buildings,  at  central  locations, 
designed  especially  for  junior  high  school  work.  Into  these  the 
seventh  and  eighth  grades  from  a  number  of  adjacent  elemen- 
tary schools,  and  the  ninth  grade  from  the  high  school  of  the 
district,  should  be  placed  and  taught  along  departmental  lines. 
This  would  provide  a  superior  grade  of  instruction,  permit  of  a 
differentiation  of  courses  to  meet  different  needs  which  is  not 
now  possible,  and  give  building  relief  in  all  parts  of  the  city  to 
both  elementary  and  secondary  schools. 

The  expense  for  such  instruction,  when  properly  organized, 
should  lie  about  half  way  between  the  cost  for  elementary  and 
secondary  schools.  The  educational  results  obtainable  under 
such  a  plan  of  instruction  are  much  larger  than  can  now  be  ob- 
tained in  grade  work.  The  evidence  as  to  the  greater  efficiency 
of  the  junior  high  school  is  practically  unanimous  wherever  it 
has  been  tried. 

7.  Expansion  of  the  work  in  music.  The  band  and  orches- 
tra work  in  the  Oakland  schools  is,  I  think,  regarded  generally 
as  among  the  best  to  be  found  in  our  city  school  systems.  In 
very  few  cities  in  the  United  States  are  so  many  pupils  interes- 
ted in  some  form  of  self-expression  along  musical  lines.  In  ed- 
ucation, self-expression  is  what  really  counts. 

The  cost,  in  comparison  with  the  returns,  has  been  exceed- 
ingly small.  The  entire  annual  expense  for  musical  supervision 
is  but  $9000  out  of  a  total  of  $.1,105,321  for  instruction  and  $1,- 
425,896.19  for  total  maintenance,  or  .0063%  of  the  total.  If  any- 
thing like  the  same  results  in  other  subjects  could  be  obtained 
from  a  similar  expenditure  of  money,  it  would  be  short-sighted 


30  Oakland  School  Survey 

economy  not  to  spend  it.  Drawing,  which  is  another  form  of 
self-expression,  ought  to  be  similarly  expanded.  The  ultimate 
results  would  be  an  artistic  and  a  musical  city.  Both  subjects 
also  possess  high  moral  values. 

8.  New  subjects  of  instruction.     To  improve  the  instruction 
in  manual  training,  to  add  instruction  in  domestic  science,  to  im- 
prove and  expand  the  drawing,  to  add  millinery  and  sewing,  and 
similar  lines  of  work,  not  only  adds  to  the  cost  of  instruction  but 
requires  more  building  space  and  equipment  for  the  work.     All 
such  work  naturally  increases  the  percapita  cost  for  instruction. 
It  is  no  longer  necessary  to  argue  that  such  instruction  has  in 
it  large  educational  value,  and  that  for  some  boys  and  for  many 
girls  it  is  the  most  valuable  work  they  do. 

The  expense  for  such  work  is  at  first  markedly  increased  by 
the  need  for  the  employment  of  both  supervisors  and  special 
teachers.  This  was  once  true  of  penmanship  and  of  music  and 
drawing, — subjects  now  usually  taught  by  grade  teachers.  In 
time  these  newer  subjects  can  be  in  large  part  so  provided  for. 
The  present  plan  of  the  superintendent,  providing  for  a  reor- 
ganization of  the  domestic-science  instruction  along  such  lines, 
will  effect  a  saving  in  special  teachers  of  $18,000  during  next 
year,  and  without  impairing  the  value  of  the  work.  In  time 
probably  other  sums  can  be  so  saved  in  this  work  and  in  manual 
training. 

9.  The  department  of  health.     Viewed  from  the  standpoint 
of  human  welfare  and  happiness,    this    department    should    be 
classed  with  the   supply   and  building  departments   as   another 
money  maker  for  the  people.     The  chief  difference  is  that  in  the 
case  of  the   purchasing  and   building  departments   the   savings 
are  visible,  and  can  be  used  to  maintain  other  work,  while  in 
case  of  the  health-development  work  the  savings  in  otherwise 
wasted   human  life  and   vitality  are    personal,    and    cannot    be 
cashed  in  to  the  school-department  treasury. 

There  are  two  phases  of  this  work.  One  relates  to  medical 
inspection,  and  aims  chiefly  at  the  detection  and  prevention  of 
contagious  diseases.  This  is  valuable  work,  but  it  represents 
but  a  very  limited  field  of  activity,  and  ordinarily  concerns  only 
about  3%  of  the  school  children  in  any  one  year.  The  other 
goes  much  further  and  aims  at  the  correction  of  developmental 


Scope  and  Needs  of  Schools  31 

defects.  This  brings  the  work  to  from  50%  to  65%  of  the  school 
children. 

The  number  of  school  children  in  any  city  who  are  in  need 
of  examination,  advice,  and  personal  attention  from  physicians 
and  nurses  is  so  large  as  to  surprise  one  unacquainted  with 
school  room  conditions.  Teachers,  even,  are  often  unaware  of 
what  exists  under  their  very  eyes.  Of  the  32,697  children  en- 
rolled in  the  Oakland  schools  last  year,  about  10%  were  poorly 
nourished  and  anemic,  50%  had  seriously  defective  teeth,  15% 
suffered  from  obstructed  nasal  breathing,  10%  had  enlarged  cer- 
vical glands,  10%  probably  will  die  from  tuberculosis,  10%  had 
vision,  defective  enough  to  require  correction  by  glasses,  1% 
were  nine-tenths  deaf,  2%  had  organic  heart  disease,  5%  were 
predisposed  to  nervous  disorders,  1%  to  2%  had  speech  defects 
which  should  have  been  remedied,  10%  to  20%  had  toothache  fre- 
quently, 20%  obtained  from  one  to  two  hours  too  little  sleep 
each  night,  and  50%  were  improperly  nourished.  To  contribute 
to  the  elimination  of  these  harmful  developmental  defects,  to  im- 
prove the  work  of  hygiene  teaching  in  the  schools,  and  to  see 
that  sanitary  conditions  are  provided,  are  very  important  funct- 
ions of  such  a  department.  Not  only  is  human  physical  welfare 
promoted,  but  the  effectiveness  of  the  ordinary  instruction  in 
the  schools  is  increased  as  a  result  of  attention  to  such  develop- 
mental defects. 

The  present  department  for,  health  work  is  doing  good  work, 
but  there  ought  to  be  additions  to  its  staff.  The  part-time  as- 
sistant director  should  be  replaced  by  another  full-time  examin- 
ing physician,  or  by  two  half-time  physicians.  There  should 
also  be  added  a  full-time  woman  physician,  chiefly  for  high 
school  girls;  an  eye,  ear,  nose,  and  throat  specialist,  on  at  least 
half-time;  and  a  school  dentist*,  for  full  time.  Two  school 
nurses  and  a  half-time  school  physician  should  be  added  for 
every  6000  increase  in  school  children  enrolled.  The  salaries 
paid  at  present  are  not  high. 

10.  Physical  training  and  school  play-grounds.  This  work 
seems  well  organized,  for  both  boys  and  girls,  and  appears  to  be 
under  good  direction.  The  salaries  paid  are  not  large.  The 

*Dr.   Cubberley  was  not  informed  that   the   county   now   provides   in   the 
city  of  Oakland  two  school  dentists. 


32  Oakland  School  Survey 

records  show  that  very  valuable  work  in  the  elimination  of  de- 
velopmental defects  in  children  and  in  improving  posture  and 
body  carriage  are  being  done.  The  physical  examination  of  the 
children  and  the  prescribing  of  individual  corrective  work  for 
each,  with  the  organization  of  the  physical-training  work  into 
groups  suited  to  individual  needs,  are  excellent  features  of  the 
work. 

Instead  of  costing  too  much,  this  work  is  costing  too  little. 
The  staff  of  assistants  is  too  small  to  handle  the  work  properly, 
and  the  work  now  imposed  on  the  teachers  is  much  beyond 
what  the  board  of  education  has  any  right  to  expect  for  the 
salaries  it  pays.  With  the  organization  of  the  upper  grades 
along  departmental  lines,  there  should  be  a  better  organization 
and  supervision  of  the  physical  training  work  in  these  grades. 
This  will  demand  additional  special  assistance,  though  it  may 
be  possible  to  effect  economies  here,  as  in  domestic  science,  by 
selecting  departmental  teachers  who  can  also  direct  the  physical 
training. 

That  Oakland  may  be  doing  as  much  as  other  cities  are  now 
doing  is  hardly  a  valid  argument.  The  neglect  of  health  and 
physique  for  the  puzzles  of  arithmetic  and  the  intricacies  of 
technical  grammar  has  long  been  a  fundamental  weakness  of 
our  schools. 

The  play-ground  work  is  also  a  work  of  much  importance 
for  any  large  city,  and  the  amount  of  it  that  is  to  be  taken  up 
is  to  be  limited  only  by  the  desire  of  the  city  to  provide  directed 
play  for  its  children,  and  the  city's  ability  to  provide  play- 
grounds and  play  teachers.  Money  spent  on  this  work  repre- 
sents money  saved  in  the  future  on  juvenile  courts  and  police 
and  jails. 

11.  Schools  for  atypical  children;  ungraded  rooms.  Careful 
studies  made  in  many  American  cities,  as  well  as  studies  made 
abroad,  show  that  every  city  has  its  share  of  children  whose 
mental  capacity  is  such  that  they  do  not  and  can  not  profit  by 
the  instruction  of  the  ordinary  school.  If  kept  in  the  grade 
rooms,  they  not  only  make  no  satisfactory  progress,  but  they 
rob  the  brighter  pupils  by  absorbing  in  wasted  effort  an  undue 
proportion  of  the  teacher's  time.  In  every  city  not  less  than  1% 
of  the  school  children  are  so  mentally  backward  that  their  in- 


Scope  and  Needs  of  Schools  33 

telligence  will  never  go  beyond  that  which  is  normal  for  a 
twelve-year-old  child,  while  an  additional  2%  would  be  very 
materially  helped  in  their  school  progress  by  some  form  of  spe- 
cial instruction  for  at  least  a  portion  of  their  school  life. 

At  present  Oakland  provides  a  director  for  this  work,  at  a 
salary  about  half  of  what  is  paid  for  similar  service  in  eastern 
cities,  and  seven  teachers  of  special  classes.  Each  teacher  tor 
such  work  needs  both  teaching  experience  and  special  training, 
and  should  receive  at  least  an  equivalent  of  the  special  salaries 
provided  for  teachers  of  manual  training  and  domestic  science. 
Instead,  Oakland  pays  them  only  the  ordinary  grade-teacher 
salary  schedule.  Judged  by  standards  in  cities  which  have 
properly  developed  this  work,  Oakland  is  getting  a  good  service 
at  a  very  low  rate. 

The  classes  provided,  however,  are  not  sufficient  to  meet  the 
needs  of  the  city.  There  are  at  least  300  children  in  Oakland 
who  should  be  in  classes  for  atypical  children.  A  few  should 
be  in  a  state  institution  for  the  care  of  those  of  the  lowest  grade 
of  intellect.  As  15  such  children  is  about  a  maximum  for  a 
teacher,  it  can  be  seen  that  the  present  provision  represents 
about  40%  of  what  is  needed  by  the  present  school  system. 
Again  here,  as  in  the  wrork  in  physical  training,  the  fact  that 
Oakland  is  now  making  as  good  provision  for  the  education  of 
such  children  as  other  cities  are  making  is  not  pertinent.  Every 
year  more  and  more  cities  are  seeing  that  it  is  not  economical  to 
try  to  handle  such  children  in  the  regular  classes,  and  are  mak- 
ing special  provision  for  their  education.  The  good  work  which 
Oakland  has  begun  should  be  continued  until  all  are  properly 
provided  for. 

In  addition  to  these  atypical  children,  there  are  probably  500 
to  600  more  who  are  slow,  and  who  need  the  help  of  an  un- 
graded room,  managed  by  a  skillful  coach  teacher.  With  the 
large  classes  at  present  handled  by  the  grade  teachers  (See 
Tables  5  and  H),  and  the  tendency  to  increase  their  size*  with 
the  growth  of  the  city,  at  least  one  ungraded  room  should  be 
organized  in  each  of  the  larger  schools  for  the  special  instruc- 

*  An  examination  of  the  reports  filed  by  school  principals  on  June 
2nd,  estimating  the  size  of  each  class  for  the  opening  of  schools  in  Aug- 
ust, indicates  a  steady  growth  in  population  and  many  large  classes  for 
next  year. 


34  Oakland  School  Survey 

— __ — — 

tion  of  these  laggards  in  the  grades.  Such  rooms  exist  in  most 
of  our  cities,  and  it  is  something  of  a  surprise  to  find  but  seven 
such  rooms  in  so  large  a  city  as  Oakland.  At  least  thirty  ad- 
ditional ones  should  be  opened.  It  is  uneconomical  to  try  to 
educate  such  children  in  a  class  of  normal  children.  They  are 
either  neglected  by  the  teacher  or  use  up  an  abnormally  large 
part  of  the  teacher's  time  and  energy,  at  the  expense  of  the  nor- 
mal children.  In  the  interests  of  economy  and  efficiency  they 
should  be  segregated  and  given  special  help. 

12.  The  vocational  school.     The  organization  of  the   voca- 
tional school,  in  the  old  Technical  High  School  building,  was  an 
important  addition  last  year  to  the  school  work  of  Oakland.   Such 
schools  have  passed  the  experimental  stage  in  eastern  cities,  and 
are  now  recognized  as  occupying  an  important  place  in  a  city's 
educational  system.     In  a  sense  they  are  institutions  for  saving 
and  making  useful  what  has  heretofore  been  regarded  as  waste 
product.     Many  boys  and  girls,  to  whom  the  ordinary  literary 
work  of  the  upper  grades  and  of  the  high  school  meant  little 
or  nothing,  and  who  formerly  dropped  from  school  at  the  earli- 
est possible  opportunity,  fipd  in  such  schools  work  that  appeals 
to  the  best  there  is  in  them,  and  there  lay  the  basis  of  useful, 
moral,  and  economically-profitable  lives. 

Such  schools  naturally  cost  more  money  than  the  traditional 
type  of  school  instruction,  and  the  thoughtless  tax-payer  is  likely 
to  complain  in  consequence.  It  is,  however,  possible,  in  a  num- 
ber of  lines  of  the  work  taught,  so  to  conduct  such  schools  as  to 
reduce  materially  the  costs,  and  in  some  cases,  even  to  render  a 
profit  on  the  instruction.  This  is  particularly  true  of  the  Avork 
in  printing,  bookbinding,  and  cabinet  making.  However  this 
may  be,  viewed  from  the  standpoint  of  twenty  years  hence,  they 
probably  are  wealth  producers  and  tax  reducers,  as  well  as  be- 
ing moral  institutions  of  a  high  order.  In  time  Oakland  will 
need  a  second  school  of  this  type. 

13.  Evening  school  extension.     Oakland    has    here    begun, 
very  recently,  what  eastern  cities  have  been  developing  for  the 
past  two  decades.     An  examination  of  the  work  listed  as  offered 
would  indicate  that  only  a  good  beginning  has  as  yet  been  made. 
The  opening  of  the   Panama   Canal   is   certain  to   result  in   the 
development,    for    our   western    coast    cities,    of    a    foreign-born 


Scope  and  Needs  of  Schools  35 

problem  such  as  our  eastern  cities  have  been  trying  for  some 
time  to  solve.  In  the  assimilation  of  these  foreign  people  the 
schools  must  play  the  leading  part. 

This  will  involve  a  general  reorganization  and  expansion  of 
the  evening  school  work,  the  establishment  of  "neighborhood 
schools"  for  the  education  of  mothers,  and  the  development  of 
a  public-school  lecture  system,  including  illustrated  lectures  and 
educational  moving  pictures.  This  will  in  time  cost  much 
money,  but  it  will  be  a  necessary  city  work.  In  the  end  it 
probably  will  prove  to  be,  as  all  good  education  does,  a  money- 
making  and  a  citizen-producing  service,  which  will  be  manifest 
in  the  greater  productive  capacity  and  moral  strength  of  the 
people. 

The  very  small  expense  that  Oakland  has  so  far  incurred  in 
this  direction  may  be  regarded  as  only  the  merest  beginning. 

14.  Desirable  additions  not  yet  developed.  In  addition  to 
the  special  types  of  education  and  schools  so  far  mentioned, 
there  are  other  types  of  schools  which  have  not  as  yet  been  de- 
veloped, or  at  most  have  only  been  begun,  and  which  a  city  the 
size  of  Oakland  might  reasonably  be  expected  to  provide.  A 
mere  mention  of  these  is  all  that  need  be  made  here.  These 
include  better  provision  for  the  oral  instruction  of  deaf  children, 
too  young  to  be  sent  to  the  state  institution  (the  instruction  of 
such  children  should  begin  at  about  three  years  of  age)  ;  schools 
for  non-English  speaking  children,  youths,  and  adults ;  separate 
schools  for  the  instruction  of  children  three  or  four  years  or 
more  over-age ;  special  disciplinary  classes  for  troublesome  chil- 
dren ;  parental-home  schools  for  the  more  acute  cases ;  vacation 
schools ;  schools  for  children  writh  marked  speech  defects ;  and 
neighborhood  schools  for  the  education  of  mothers  in  the  care 
of  children  and  the  management  of  homes. 

All  these  types  of  schools  will  add  to  the  cost  for  schools, 
but  they  will  give  large  educational  returns.  It  may  be  confi- 
dently expected  that  in  the  near  future  the  people  will  demand 
their  establishment.  In  the  process  of  changing  public  educa- 
tion from  a  class  to  a  mass  institution,  provision  must  be  made 
for  types  of  education  adapted  to  the  needs  of  all  classes  which 
compose  the  mass. 


36  Oakland  School  Survey 

j— 

Where  to  economize.  A  careful  examination  of  the  scope 
and  needs  of  the  Oakland  school  system  does  not  reveal  any 
place  where  any  important  economy  is  possible,  if  the  school 
system  is  to  continue  to  serve  the  needs  of  the  children  of  the 
community.  On  the  contrary,  many  places  where  additional 
amounts  should  be  spent  have  been  pointed  out.  Of  course, 
if  economies  had  to  be  made,  it  would  be  possible  to  abolish  any 
one  or  more  of  the  new  lines  of  work  just  considered,  such  as 
kindergartens,  domestic  science,  manual  training,  the  vocational 
school,  the  technical  high  school,  etc.,  or  even  all  of  them,  and 
strip  the  school  system  down  to  what  it  was  fifteen  or  twenty 
years  ago.  Still  more  money  could  be  saved  by  abolishing  the 
public  schools  entirely,  and  turning  the  whole  business  over  to 
the  private  and  parochial  schools  to  handle.  No  progressive 
American  city  desires  to  do  any  of  these  things  however,  and 
the  people  will  not  long  stand  any  unnecessary  curtailment  of 
the  public  school  system.  Having  once  tasted  of  its  advanta- 
ges, they  want  to  continue  to  enjoy  them. 

In  the  part  or  chapter  which  follows,  the  problem  will  be  con- 
sidered from  the  financial  side,  and  it  will  be  shown  that  there 
is  no  need  for  any  curtailment  of  the  public  school  system  in 
Oakland. 


Financial  Phase  of  Problem  37 

PART  III. 

The  Financial  Phase  of  the  Oakland  School  Problem. 

There  now  remains  to  be  considered  that  phase  of  the  edu- 
cational problem  which  relates  to  the  increasing  cost  for  educa- 
tion in  Oakland,  and  the  city's  ability  to  pay  for  a  good  school 
system. 

Increase  in  maintenance  costs.  That  the  total  costs  for  al- 
most every  item  of  city  administration  must  increase  in  a  grow- 
ing city  may  be  considered  as  self  evident.  The  increase  in 
population  makes  new  demands,  which  must  be  met  by  addi- 
tional appropriations  for  maintenance  and  for  betterments.  In 
a  city  that  has  increased  as  rapidly  as  has  .Oakland  since  1906, 
any  actual  cutting  down  in  the  total  sum  appropriated  for  any 
department  of  government  is  hardly  possible,  unless  the  proper 
development  of  that  department  is  to  be  seriously  interfered 
with.  Any  period  of  rapid  growth  in  any  city  calls  for  an  ex- 
penditure of  funds  for  extensions  and  betterments,  which,  in  the 
total  at  least,  appear  to  mount  up  very  rapidly.  Within  recent 
years  all  expense  items  in  every  city  department  have  been 
further  complicated  by  the  increasing  cost  of  every  form  of  la- 
bor and  almost  every  item  of  supply  or  equipment  furnished. 
That  the  school  department  has  only  shared  with  other  city  de- 
partments in  this  general  increase  of  expenses  may  be  seen  from 
the  statement  that,  during  the  past  five  years,  the  following  ap- 
promixate  increases  in  total  annual  maintenance  costs  have 
taken  place. 

Fire    department    82% 

Police  department  60% 

Street  department  3% 

Parks  and  boulevards  64% 

Playgrounds    400% 

School  department    64% 

Schools,  per  capita  cost  based  on  average 

daily  attendance  22% 

It  is  perfectly  natural,  with  these  rising  costs  for  all  forms  of 
municipal  service  and  with  all  municipal  departments  materially 


38 


Oakland  School  Survey 


increasing  their  expenditures,  that  the  tax-payer  should  begin 
to  complain,  and  should  vote  for  a  reduction  in  expenditures.* 

Total  costs,  however,  or  even  precentages  of  increase  in  the 
total  costs,  are  not  proper  measure  of  development.  Totals  may 
be  increasing,  even  somewhat  rapidly,  while  the  cost  per  capita 
or  per  unit  of  service  may  be  decreasing.  The  real  measure  is 
to  be  found  in  the  tax  rate,  based  on  real  instead  of  assessed  val- 
uation, or  in  the  per-capita-of-the-population  costs. 

Increase  in  tax  rate  in  Oakland.  To  determine  in  how  far 
increases  in  operating  costs  have  been  reflected  in  the  tax  rate, 
a  study  of  the  increases  in  both  the  city  and  the  county  tax  rate 
has  been  made.  As  most  of  the  school  money  comes  from  the 
county  school  tax,  and  as  Oakland  probably  gets  back  nearly  as 
much  of  this  as  it  pays,  the  county  and  city  tax  rates  for  schools 
and  for  other  purposes  have  been,  combined.  The  following 
table  gives  the  results  of  the  study. 

TABLE  No.  9. 

Combined  City  and  County  Tax  Rates  for  Schools  and  for  Other 
Purposes  Compared. 

(NOTE.— This  table  is  for  the  "original  city,"  and  does  not  include  the  annexed  territory.) 


Years. 

City,   District  and  County  tax  rate  combined 

Percent    of  total 
for  annual 
school     mainte- 
nance 

For    school 
mainte- 
nance 

For   int.    & 
redempt. 
sen.    bonds 

For   other 
purposes 

Total 
rates 

1905-06 

.458 
.48 
.45 
.4575 
.48 
.74 
.585 
.58 
.69 
1.09f 

.16 
.21 
.09 
.10 
.10 
.11 
.165 
.174 
.1656 
.2197* 

$2.142 
2.19 
2.15 
2.0725 
2.12 
2.21 
2.51 
2.2726 
2.2244 
2.3703 

$2.76 
2.88 
2.69 
2.63 
2.70 
3.06 
3.26 
2.97 
3.08 
3.68 

16.6 
16.6 
16.7 
17.4 
17.9 
24.1 
17.9 
19.5 
22.4 
29.6 

1906-07    ... 

3907-08    

1908-09    

1909-10    

1910-11 

1911-12 

1912-13 

1913-14 

1914-15    

#  Our  cities,  as  well  as  individuals,  have  recently  come  to  feel  that 
they  can  afford  many  luxuries.  What  the  tax  rate  will  not  provide 
bonds  have  been  voted  for.  City  buildings,  parks,  waterfront  improve- 
ments, boulevards,  and  other  more  or  less  non-productive  acquisitions  and 
betterments  have  been  acquired,  with  a  resulting  added  tax  cost  for 
their  care  and  upkeep.  To  meet  the  interest  charge  and  sinking-fund 
requirements  on  the  borrowed  money  requires  quite  a  large  annual  sum. 
In  Oakland,  in  1914-15,  it  required  a  property  tax  of  51  cents  on  the 
$100  to  meet  the  interest  and  redemption  charges  on  bonds  issued  by 
the  city,  and  5  cents  additional  for  school  district  bonds.  Together  this 
equalled  44%  of  the  total  tax  rate  of  ten  years  ago. 

t  Approximately  25  cents  of  this  amount  was  due  to  betterments  or 
new  .expenditures  for  land,  buildings,  etc.,  mentioned  above. 

*  Includes  a  city  tax  of.21/^  cents  for  new  buildings,  in  lieu  of  bond- 
ing. 


Financial  Phase  of  Problem 


39 


Represented   graphically,   the   foregoing   table  gives   the   curves 
shown  in  the  following  diagram : 


5.00 


*2.00 


Total 


Tox 


Fig.   1 .      Taxes  for  Schools  and  Total  Tax  Rate  Compared. 

An  examination  of  both  the  table  and  the  curves  will  show 
that  the  school  rate  has  not  increased  during  the  period  any 
more  rapidly  than  has  the  general  city  and  county  tax  rates 
combined.  Only  during  the  last  year  has  the  school  rate  in- 
creased at  all  rapidly.  The  increase  during  1914-15  has  been, 
due  in  part  to  the  fact  that  a  building  tax  of  %y2  cents  was  levied, 
for  the  first  time ;  in  part  to  the  expenditure  of  the  unusual  sum 
of  $345,235.78  (a  sum  over  three  times  that  of  the  preceding 
year)  from  the  proceeds  of  taxation,  for  land,  new  buildings, 
and  equipment.* 

*  During-  1914-15,  the  following  amounts,  derived  from  taxation,  have 
been  so  spent. 

For   land   $     2,461.30 

On    new    buildings 25,944.55 

Alterations   of   old   buildings 53,889.31 

Equipment   of  new  buildings 134,539.31 

Equipment  of  old   builldings 128,401.31 


Total $345,235.78 

In  1913-14  the  amount  so  spent  was $110,626.39 

In  1912-13  the  amount  so  spent  was $  59,749.69 


40 


Oakland  School  Survey 


As  this  expense  for  buildings  was  incurred  in  part  to  put 
the  school  plant  in  good  condition  for  the  exposition  year  and 
the  meeting  in  Oakland  in  August  of  the  National  Education 
Association,  there  is  every  probability  that  both  the  school  tax 
rate  and  the  percentage  of  all  taxes  devoted  to  school  purposes 
will  materially  decrease  in  1915-16.  • 

Property  valuation  and  school  increase  compared.  There  is 
another  phase  of  the  tax  rate  question  that  needs  to  be  con- 
sidered, and  it  is  this:  Are  the  city  and  county  valuations  in- 
creasing properly  with  the  growth  of  the  city?  If  not,  tax  rates 
must  necessarily  increase,  even  though  the  rate  of  expenditure 
remains  the  same.  A  tax  rate  of  $3.60  on  a  50%  valuation  is 
the  same  as  a  tax  rate  of  $3.00  on  a  60%  valuation. 

An  examination  of  the  city  and  county  assessment  totals  for 
the  past  five  years  reveals  the  fact  that  the  assessors  have  been 
increasing  the  property  valuations  but  very  slowly,  while  the 
county  assessment  on  city  property,  upon  which  87%  of  the 
school  tax  is  raised,  has  increased  but  15%  in  the  last  five  years. 
The  number  of  children  in  average  daily  attendance  in  the 
schools,  however,  has  increased  34^°  in  the  meantime,  and  the  num- 
ber of  teachers  needed  to  teach  these  children  has  increased 
39%.  This  would  naturally  increase  the  tax  rate  for  schools 
approximately  15%,  even  though  the  per  capita  cost  for  educa- 
tion remained  the  same.  This  may  be  seen  from  the  following 
table. 


TABLE  No.  10. 
City  and  County  Assessments,  and  Growth  of  Schools  Compared. 


Year. 

City 
Assessment 

County 
Assessment 

%of   total 
school   tax 
levied  on 
county 
assessment 

Children     in 
average 
daily 
attendance 

Average 
number 
class    teach- 
ers   employed 

1910-11    
1911-12    
1912-1S      

$126,920,650 
116,881,725 
129,467,400 

$117,344,224 
109,124,037 
127,156,828 

96 

86 
92 

17,332 
18,337 
19,175 

507 
508 
552 

1913-14    

137,727,750 

133,823,778 

87 

21,201 

604 

1914-15    

141,691,600 

135,592,527 

87 

23,216 

707 

The  results  shown  in  this  table  are  also  shown  graphically 
in  the  following  diagram : 


Financial  Phase  of  Problem 


41 


Teachers 


Rxpils  in 
Attwtdance 


orii 
•to.  000.000 

120.000.000 
IOO.  OOO  OOO 

-  do. ooo,  ooo 

-  6ao 00.000 

-  4-O.000.000 

-  2.0,000.000 


Fig.  2.      Valuations,  Attendance,  and  Teachers  Employed  Compared. 

It  will  be  seen  from  the  table  and  diagram  just  given  that 
the  school  tax  rates,  given  in  Table  9,  have  increased  much 
more  rapidly  in  appearance  than  in  reality,  and  for  the  simple 
reason  that  the  county  assessment  has  not  increased  in  the  same 
ratio  as  the  school  attendance.  The  19%.  jump  in  the  combined 
city  and  county  tax  rate  for  1914-15  can  be  in  part  accounted 
for  by  the  increase  of  only  1.3%  in  the  county  assessment  for 
the  same  year. 

Percentage  of  taxes  for  schools  compared.  While  the  per- 
centage of  the  total  taxes  devoted  to  public  education  in  Oak- 
land has  increased  rather  rapidly  during  the  past  half  dozen 
years,  as  shown  in  Table  No.  9,  due  largely  to  the  educational 
expansion  of  the  school  system  during  this  period,  as  analysed  in 
the  preceding  part  of  this  report,  it  remains  to  be  seen  whether 
or  not  Oakland  is  even  now  expending  a  larger  proportion  of 
the  total  available  taxes  for  education  than  ought  to  be  the  case. 
Perhaps,  after  all,  the  rise  in  percentage  spent  for  schools  has 
been  in  large  part  because  the  school  department  has  only  re- 
cently come  into  possession  of  its  own. 

Taking  again  the  same  sixteen  western  cities  used  in  Table 
No.  2,  and  calculating  from  data  given  in  the  U.  S.  Census 
Bureau  "Statistics  of  Cities  for  1913,"  we  get  the  table  which 


42 


Oakland  School  Survey 


follows.  Here  again  we  are  comparing  Oakland  for  1914-15 
with  the  other  cities  for  1912-13,  the  last  year  for  which  statis- 
tics have  as  yet  been  published.  This  places  Oakland  some- 
what at  a  disadvantage. 


TABLE  No.  1 1 . 

Percentage  of  Total  Local  Taxes  Devoted  to  the  Maintenance 
of  Education. 


City. 

Percent 
for 
schools 

City. 

Percent 
for 
schools 

San    Francisco,    Cal     

12.7 

Portland,    Ore 

38  0 

Denver,   Colo  

29.4 

Spokane,   Wash     

39.1 

Oakland,    Cal    

29.6 

Los  Angeles,   Cal  

39.4 

San   Diego    Cal 

31  4 

San  Jose    Cal 

45  3 

Seattle     Wash 

31  5 

Colorado    Springs     Colo 

46  1 

Butte     Mont 

34.2 

Pasadena     Cal 

48  4 

Sacramento,    Cal 

34.3 

Salt  Lake   City,  Utah 

48  4 

Tacoma,    Wash  

36.7 

Berkeley,  Cal  

54.7 

Average  for  the  group- 

37.8 

Median  for  the  group.— 

37.4 

This  table  shows  that  Oakland  is  still  below  both  the  aver- 
age and  the  median  of  all  western  cities  of  25,000  or  more  in- 
habitants in  the  percentage  of  taxes  devoted  to  public  educa- 
tion. If  San  Francisco  were  omitted  from  the  calculation  the 
average  would  be  raised  to  39.5  per  cent  and  the  median  to  38.0 
per  cent. 

Can  Oakland  afford  good  schools?  There  yet  remains  the 
question,  can  Oakland  afford  to  provide  good  schools  for  its 
children?  This  can  be  answered  most  easily  by  an  examination 
of  its  assessed  and  real  wealth  per  capita,  and  its  per  capita  tax 
rate  compared  with  all  other  cities  we  have  previously  used. 
The  United  States  Census  figures  for  1912-13  will  again  be 
used,  for  the  reason  that  these  represent  the  most  recent  and 
the  most  reliable  figures  we  now  have  in  print  with  reference 
to  city  maintenance  costs.  Oakland's  expenses  have  of  course 
materially  increased  since  1912-13,  but  so  have  those  in  practi- 
cally all  the  other  cities.  If  the  figures  for  1914-15  were  at  hand 
for  each  city  used  for  comparison,  it  is  probable  that  the  cities 
would  not  show  any  marked  change  in  position. 


Financial  Phase  of  Problem 


TABLE  No.  12. 

Actual  Wealth  and  Tax  Rates  Compared,  per  Capita  of  the 
Totrl  Population. 


City. 

Assessed 
wealth 
per 
capita 

Average 
basis 
of 
Assmnt. 

Real 
wealth 
per 
capita 

City  tax 
rate  per 
$100  of 
real    wealth. 

Tax     rate- 
per     capita 
total 
population 

Butte     Mont 

$   596.91 

75% 

$   795  88 

$1  59 

$12.65 

San  Jose    Cal 

648  61 

60 

108102 

929 

10  07 

Denver    Colo 

543  25 

50 

1126  50 

1  538 

17  33 

Colorado  Springs,  Colo... 
Tacoma,   Wash 

400.77 
742.33 

33 
60 

1202.31 
1237.22 

1.155, 
1.049 

14.71 
13.13 

Berkeley,    Cal. 

822.68 

60 

1371  13 

.871 

12.00 

Oakland,  Cal. 

738.96 

50 

1477.92 

1.03 

15.23 

Seattle,   Wash. 

721.24 

45 

1602.77 

.908 

14.59 

Spokane,  Wash  
Salt   Lake   City,   Utah  
Sacramento,    Cal  

699.77 
589.23 
1042.03 

42 
35 
58 

1666.12 
1683.52 
1796.60 

.735 
.794 
.956 

12.28 
13.38 
17.18 

Pasadena,   Cal  

1280.94 

66 

1921.41 

1.311 

25.46 

Portland,    Ore  

1212.40 

63 

1924.44 

.9or 

17.54 

Los    Angeles,    Cal  

888.20 

46 

1930.87 

1.413 

27.63 

San   Francisco,    Cal  

1193.32 

45     - 

2561.82 

.99 

26.25 

San    Diego,    Cal  

1051.05 

39 

2695.00 

.792 

21.35 

Average  for  group |    |     |$1629.66|       1.06,        |       $16.87 

Perhaps  Oakland's  position  may  be  seen  still  better  if  we 
give  the  real  wealth  per  capita  for  a  number  of  eastern  and  mid- 
dle-western cities  which  are  generally  regarded  as  cities  of 
wealth  and  as  cities  which  maintain  good  school  systems. 

These  eastern  and  middle-western  cities  show  the  follow- 
ing distribution  of  real  wealth  per  capita  of  the  total  popula- 
tion. 


I.     Selected  Eastern  Cities 

Jersey  City,  N.  J $    895.50 

Yonkers,   N.   Y £65.00 

Worcester,    Mass 993.18 

Newark,   N.  J 1,012.27 

Cambridge,  Mass 1,063.20 

New  Haven,  Conn 1,094.40 

Syracuse,  N.  Y 1,213.33 

Pittsburg,    Pa 1,414.02 

Oakland,  Cal 1,477.92 

Washington,  D.  C 1,523.97 

Springfield,  Mass 1,556.11 

Hartford,    Conn 1,715.10 

Newton,    Mass 1,915.90 

Boston,    Mass.   .       2,061.84 


II.     Selected   Middle  Western 
Cities 

Des  Moines,  la $    932. 60 

Omaha,   Neb 1,249.10 

Milwaukee,  Wis 1,252,12 

Cincinnati,   Ohio  1,319.67 

Kansas  City,  Mo 1,411.58 

Indianapolis,   Ind 1,432.63 

Oakland,  Cal 1,477.92 

Duliith,   Minn 1,480.00 

St.   Louis,  Mo.  ...: 1,698.51 

Minneapolis,    Minn.    ..  1.^872.44 


44 


Oakland  School  Survey 


These  tables  reveal  Oakland  as  a  city  of  average  wealth 
among  western  cities  and  of  much  more  than  average  wealth  as 
compared  with  wealthy  eastern  and  middle-western  cities.  The 
main  table  also  shows  that  Oakland's  tax  rate  per  capita  is 
somewhat  less  than  the  average  for  the  group. 

Per  capita  costs  for  maintenance.  Another  measure  of  Oak- 
land's ability  to  maintain  good  schools  is  to  be  found  in  the  per 
capita  costs  for  maintaining  the  city  government  and  the  schools 
compared  with  other  cities  of  its  class.  Such  a  comparison, 
based  on  the  U.  S.  census  figures  for  1912-13,  gives  the  following 
table. 


TABLE  No.  1 3. 
Costs  per  Capita  for  City  Maintenance  and  Schools. 


City. 

Costs  per  capita  of  total 
population 

Cost    for 
schools  per 
pupil  in  av. 
clailv    attend. 

For   city 
maintenance 

For  schools  . 

Portland,    Ore.        ..         

$12.60 
13.49 
13.82 
13.83 
13.86 
13.90 
16.05 
16.20 
16.59 
16.67 
16.68 
19.12 
19.48 
20.91 
22.01 
22.43 

$   4.73 
4.95 
6.26 
5.41 
6.71 
7.60 
5.06 
5.74 
7.64 
5.72 
5.71 
6.01 
5.72 
10.11 
8.66 
4.27 

$49.95 
43.92 
48.16 
54.94 
44.81 
62.20 
60.50 
52.33 
52.65 
64.75 
63.45 
59.90 
48.07 
86.87 
68.03 
44.86 

Tacoma,    Wash  

San  Jose,  Cal  

Spokane    \Vash 

Salt  Lake  Cit}'    Utah 

Berkeley    Cal 

Seattle    Wash 

Oakland,  Cal. 

Colorado   Springs,    Colo  

Sacramento,    Cal.            

Butte,    Mont  

San   Diego    Cal 

Denver    Colo 

Pasadena     Cal 

Los  Angeles    Cal 

San    Francisco,    Cal  

Average  for  the  group 

$17.35 
$16.40 

$  6.27 
$  5.72 

$56.58 
$53.80 

Median   for  the  grotm.— 

Comparing  the  same  selected  groups  of  eastern  and  middle 
western  cities  used  above  as  to  cost  per  capita  for  schools,  we 
get  the  following  distribution. 


Financial  Phase  of  Problem  45 

I.     Selected  Eastern  Cities  II.     Selected   Middle   Western 

Syracuse,  N.  Y $4.52  Cities. 

New  Haven,  Conn 5.03      Indianapolis,  Ind $4.51 

Jersey  City,  N.  J 5.05      Milwaukee,   Wis 4.59 

Cambridge,    Mass 5.14      St.  Louis,  Mo 4.69 

Oakland,    Cal 5.74      Omaha,  Neb 4.99 

Worcester,  Mass 5.90      Duluth,  Minn 5.24 

Yonkers,  N.  Y 6.22      Cincinnati,  Ohio  5.26 

Hartford,   Conn 6.26      Minneapolis,   Minn 5.26 

Pittsburg,  Pa 6.26      Kansas  City,  Mo 5.58 

Newark,  N.  J 6.48      Oakland,   Cal 5.74 

Washington,   D.   C 6.56      Des  Moines,  Iowa  7.26 

Boston,  Mass 6.78 

Springfield,    Mass 7.07 

Newton,   Mass 8.72 

When  we  remember  that  in  most  of  these  eastern  cities 
the  salary  schedule  for  teachers  is  lower  than  in  Oakland,  the 
position  of  Oakland  in  the  matter  of  per  capita  costs  is  not  un- 
favorable. To  be  sure  Oakland's  costs  for  1914-15  would  be 
somewhat  higher,  but  the  same  would  be  true  in  nearly  all  the 
other  cities  of  the  list.  The  per  capita  costs  in  Oakland  for 
1914-15,  too,  would  hardly  be  a  fair  measure  of  what  the  city 
would  ordinarily  spend,  due  to  the  large  jump  in  expenses  due 
to  the  organization  of  the  new  Technical  High  School  in  the 
middle  of  the  year.  The  year  1913-14  would  be  a  better  measure 
of  what  the  year  1915-16  will  be. 

Oakland's  position  in  the  matter  of  school  expenses.  Review- 
ing all  the  tables  presented  bearing. on  the  costs  for  the  Oak- 
land system,  and  after  making  all  due  allowances  for  decreas- 
ing valuations  of  property  and  increasing  costs  in  all  other  city 
departments,  there  is  no  denying  that  the  expenditures  for 
education  in  Oakland  have  materially  increased  within  recent 
years.  The  educational  expansion  of  the  past  half  dozen  years, 
as  analyzed  in  part  two,  could  not  have  been  made  without  a' 
marked  increase  in  maintenance  costs.  Considering  all  that  has 
been  added  and  the  educational  value  of  the  additions,  the  in- 
crease in  costs  for  public  education  have  been  reasonable.  Even 
now,  Oakland  is  not  spending  as  much  for  education,  either  in 


46  Oakland  School  Survey 

percentage  of  total  city  expenditures  or  per  capita  of  the  popula- 
tion, as  are  other  cities  of  its  class.  The  rise  in  cost,  too,  has 
been  in  part  an  artificial  rise,  due  to  but  slowly  increasing  prop- 
erty valuations.  As  was  pointed  out  in  the  preceding  part  of 
this  report,  still  more  needs  to  be  done  if  the  schools  of  Oakland 
are  to  be  made  highly  efficient  community  institutions,  and  if 
Oakland  is  to  retain  the  position  of  prominence  in  educational 
work  which  the  city  at  present  holds.  To  stand  still,  even  for 
a  few  years,  means  to  drop  toward  the  rear  in  the  matter  of 
public  education. 

Possible  economies.  Suppose,  though,  that  it  be  urged  that 
the  people  demand  economies  in  their  government,  and  that  the 
cost  for  the  schools  must  be  reduced.  Such  an  economy  in 
money  costs  can  always  be  made  by  cutting  somewhere,  though 
cutting  in  public  education  is  quite  a  different  matter  from  cut- 
ting in  park  development,  street  work,  sewer  extensions,  or  in 
the  number  of  policemen.  A  child  has  but  one  chance  for  a 
good  education,  and  what  he  is  deprived  of  at  the  proper  period 
can  never  be  added  later  on.  Still,  if  the  people  of  Oakland 
think  it  of  more  importance  that  their  taxes  be  reduced  than  that 
they  continue  to  provide  a  good  and  a  rich  education  for  their 
children,  and  if  they  think  that  such  a  policy  is  a  wise  one  to 
pursue  from  a  real  estate  and  a  city  welfare  point  of  view,  they 
of  course  have  the  right  to  order  their  representatives  to  cut 
the  school  system  and  save  ( ?)  money  for  the  city. 

Should  it  be  decided  to  follow  such  a  policy  care  should  be 
taken  to  make  cuts  which  will  really  reduce  expenditures.  To 
cut  off  a  supervisor  here,  to  take  out  a  few  special  teachers 
there,  or  to  cut  a  few  salaries  at  different  points,  will  not  ac- 
complish a  saving  of  any  importance.  After  all  has  been  done 
perhaps  a  saving  of  not  to  exceed  1%  of  the  cost  of  maintenance 
may  be  made  by  such  means,  but  with  a  resulting  loss  of  ef- 
ficiency larger  than  the  saving  made.  To  achieve  a  really  fund- 
amental economy  something  large  and  important  must  be  cut. 
The  Technical  High  School,  for  example,  might  be  closed,  as  the 
education  given  there  is  quite  costly,  largely  because  it  is  very 
good  education.  The  Vocational  School  is  also  likely  to  prove 
somewhat  costly,  and  this  might  be  closed,  even  though  it 
probably  does  more  to  make  useful  men  out  of  irregular  and 


Financial  Phase  of  Problem  47 

delinquent  boys  than  anything  else  in  the  city.  The  health  and 
development  work  and  all  work  in  physical  training  might  be 
abandoned,  on  the  ground  that  schools  exist  to  impart  informa- 
tion, and  are  not  concerned  \vith  the  health  or  physical  welfare 
of  the  pupils.  The  domestic  science  and  household  arts  work 
might  also  be  abandoned  with  quite  a  saving,  carrying  out  the 
theory  that  schools  are  not  maintained  to  help  make  intelligent 
women  or  well-managed  homes.  These  are  types  of  really 
fundamental  cuts.  Such  cuts,  though,  Oakland  does  not  want 
made,  and  would  not  permit"  its  board  of  education  to  make. 

The  only  place  in  the  school  department  where  expenses 
may  be  cut  down  without  seriously  impairing  the  efficiency  of 
the  schools  is  in  the  building  and  maintenance  of  the  plant.  Less 
elaborate  and  less  costly  repairs  may  be  made,  less  expensive 
school  buildings  may  be  erected,  and  the  so-called  "portables" 
may  be  made  to  serve  for  a  time  until  the  city  is  better  able 
to  erect  new  permanent  buildings.  In  the  work  of  administra- 
tion and  actual  instruction,  however,  cuts  should  be  made  only 
as  a  last  resort., 

The  real  place  for  economies  in  city  administration,  how- 
ever, lies  in  other  departments  than  that  which  deals  with  the 
education  of  its  future  citizens.  The  school  department  should 
be  the  last  to  be  affected.  In  a  city  with  as  large  per  capita 
wealth  and  as  small  a  percentage  of  children  of  school  age  as 
Oakland,  0-1.1%  between  the  ages  of  5  and  14,  as  against  an 
average  of  17.4%  for  the  United  States  as  a  whole),  there  is  little 
reason  why  it  cannot  care  for  all  its  children,  and  provide  them 
with  an  education  which  shall  be  one  of  the  best  offered  by  our 
American  cities.  A  city  that  can  afford  a  million  dollar  city 
auditorium  and  a  two  million  dollar  city  hall,  that  is  able  to 
engage  in  expensive  public  improvements,  and  that  can  spend 
as  much  money  on  general  city  maintenance  as  does  Oakland, 
can  certainly  afford  to  give  its  children  the  best  educational  op- 
portunities. 


48 


Oakland  School  Survey 


APPENDIX  A. 

Estimated  Expenditures  of  the  Oakland  School   Department  for  the 
Fiscal  Year  1914-1915,  by  Totals  and  Percentages. 


Items,  numbered  as  in 
Fiscal  Schedule 


Expense 


Percentage 
Distribution 


1-6,   9   Board   of    Education    and 

Business    Offices    $      26,164.26  1.83 

7-8  Superintendent's  Office  13,383.17  .94 

10  Total  Overhead  Charges....  $      39,547.43  2.77 

11-12  Salaries  and  Expenses  of 

Supervisors  33,032.78  2.33 

13-14  Salaries  and  Expenses  of 

Principals  and  Clerks 88,018.55  6.15 

15  Salaries  of  Teachers 925,707.70  64.9 

16-18  Other  Expenses  of  Instruc- 
tion    58,561.97  4.11 

19  Total  Expenses  of  In- 
struction    1,105,321.00  77.49 

20   Wages    of   Janitors $      72,459.40  5.08 

21-25  Other  Expenses  of  Opera- 
tion    36,692.86  2.57 

26  Total  for  Operation 109,152.26  7.65 

27-31  Total  for  Maintenance..  129,203.87  9.1 

32-39  Total  for  Auxiliary 

Agencies  34,818.63  2.44 

40-46  Total  Miscellaneous  Ex- 
penses    7,853.00  .55 

1-46  Total  Expenses $1,425,896.19 

Estimated  Outlays  or  Betterments 
(Capital  Acquisition  and  Con- 
struction) 

Land  $        2,461.30 

New    Buildings   25,944.55 

Alterations   of   Old    Buildings 53,889.31 

Equipment  of  New  Buildings 

and  Grounds  134,539.31 

Equipment  of  Old  Buildings  and 

Grounds  128,401.31 

Total  Outlays  345,235.78 

Total   Expenses  and   Out- 
lays      $1,771,131.97 


